A Simple Date
by Asilin Kheldarson
Summary: AU HieiOC KuramaOC. Our two favorite demons are in NYC for a while. What happens when they meet two female demon hunters? Fights, arguments, and perhaps...romance? NOT a Mary-Sue fic. Co-written with Skie4.
1. Default Chapter

Okay, a friend and I thought this might be some fun to do, so we're doing it. Just a simple date between our characters and certain YYH characters. I'm not forcing you to read it, so don't yell at me if you don't like it. But, reviews are nice!  
  
Asilin Kheldarson growled as she continued to do her pull-ups. The Boss was a idiot! So what if she was getting involved in her work; she didn't need her boss to tell her to go get a social life! Especially since he didn't seem to have one either!  
  
She slammed down to the ground after the 200th pull-ups. Even those got tiring after a while when there was no point to the training. Moodily, she wandered over to the fridge to grab a water. Beyond her missions, she didn't have much else to do. Sometimes she wished she had a talent or a hobby, like Dru did, but that would take her away from her work.  
  
Still, maybe she'd actually have time to talk DarkDragon. It was strange, out of all the men she'd ever met, she felt a real connection to a guy that only knew her online. Fate was strange that way.  
  
Just then, the computer blinged. 'Speak of the devil,' Asilin thought with a smirk. She turned her attention to the conversation that had just been initiated.  
  
DarkDragon: hey  
  
DemonDragon: hi  
  
DarkDragon: why are you on now? you're never on at this time  
  
DemonDragon: my boss decided some time off would be good  
  
DarkDragon: ah  
  
DemonDragon: so now i'm home...somewhat bored  
  
DarkDragon: hn  
  
DemonDragon: nice to know you care  
  
DarkDragon: did i ever say i cared?  
  
DemonDragon: hn  
  
DarkDragon: you're stealing my lines again, onna  
  
DemonDragon: so? and i thought we established you weren't going to call me that again  
  
DarkDragon: hn  
  
DarkDragon: since you're so bored, do you want to meet? i'm in the states for a while  
  
DemonDragon: where in the states particularly?  
  
DarkDragon: New York...my baka friend insisted i come "sightseeing" with him  
  
DemonDragon: sounds fun...actually i live in NYC  
  
DarkDragon: so do we meet?  
  
DemonDragon: sure...i've got nothing better to do  
  
DemonDragon: mind if i bring a friend?  
  
DarkDragon: no...i have to bring mine with me anyway  
  
DemonDragon: okay, i'll meet you in central park at the ice skating rink in an hour  
  
DarkDragon: fine. don't be late  
  
DarkDragon has signed off.  
  
Asilin groaned inwardly. How could she have just done that? She never arranged meetings! Had she allowed him to get past her barriers already? Asilin shook her head at the thought. More than likely it was just boredom. Nothing more. But, how was she going to convince Dru to come? Her grey eyes snapped open. That was going to be the difficult part.  
  
Grabbing her winter coat and throwing it over her training shirt, she stalked out of the room. This was going to be a long week.  
  
***Dru's POV***  
  
She stared at the large canvas on the wall. She looked at the black-haired faceless angel that seemed to fill her apartment. Many people thought that the pictures of a ghastly pale woman with wings or wings ripped from her back were disturbing, but Dru found them peaceful and full of emotion. Whatever she felt in a moment, she would paint into the angel's surroundings and body language. She picked up the red paint and with two soft and smooth handprints, she made the stubs of the wings.  
  
The doorbell rang.   
  
"What?" she called.  
  
"Dru?" came Asilin's voice sounded from the other side of the door. Dru sighed and put down the pain. She opened the door.  
  
"What, Kheldarson?"   
  
"Aren't you going to invite me in?" she asked with a smirk.  
  
Dru raised an eyebrow. "Fine." She stood aside and let the woman in. "Now, what do you want?"  
  
Asilin stared at the painting on Dru's wall. "My, you have quite the dark imagination, don't you?"  
  
"Kheldarson," Dru said.  
  
"Fine, all right! I'll tell you. Can I have something to drink?"  
  
"You know where the fridge is." Dru couldn't believe that she was admitting this to herself. Someone had actually been in her apartment long enough to know where the kitchen and the fridge were.  
  
Asilin nodded and floated into kitchen. Dru sighed and went back to the painting. She took up the black paint and looked at the painting, trying to figure out what needed to be added next. She began slapping paint on the background. This was her favorite part. She could always manage to sneak in something from her life. She painted, in slightly darker black, the form of a man holding a metal pipe. She also added lines to make it appear in the light as though there were the thin linings of a room around the rocks and pond. She tilted her head.  
  
"Ok, now that's just depressing," Asilin, remarked, looking down at Dru's stereo. "What kind of crap is this?"  
  
"It's not crap. It's Mozart," she said quietly, more interested in her painting.  
  
"I keep forgetting you're a violin buff."  
  
"Did you have something to tell me?"  
  
"Ask you, more like."  
  
"A favor?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Out with it."  
  
"Well, the Boss has been telling me to take a few days off, because I am too immersed in my work. And I was thinking…well, I've been talking to this guy online, and we've been thinking about meeting. And—"  
  
"I'm not going with you," Dru said.  
  
"Come on Dru. We're going to walk the dark streets of New York. You love that kind of thing."  
  
"The answer is no."  
  
"Dru, what if this guy turns out to be a rapist?"  
  
"Kill him."  
  
"Dru…"  
  
"You're a big girl, Kheldarson. If he tries to rape you, cut off his balls and then gut him. You know, the usual."  
  
Asilin sighed. "Please Dru? I'll leave you alone for a week! Besides, you know I'm forbidden to kill random people for a while."  
  
"Asilin, you're not going to bribe me into this." Even though Dru wouldn't admit it, she knew she would kind of miss the annoying girl were she to stay away for a week. Asilin was the first true friend she'd had in a long time.   
  
"Please, as a friend?"  
  
Dru froze. She sighed. She could never refuse when put like that. "All right, Kheldarson. Under two conditions."  
  
"That is?"  
  
"I get to leave when I find it too boring. And trust me, I will."  
  
"And the other is?"  
  
Dru grinned. "I get to bring Alucard."  
  
Asilin sighed. "Fine, you can bring your gun. Just...try not to kill anyone this time."  
  
"No one innocent, I promise."  
  
Asilin smirked. "I quite agree. I assume you're bringing your sword?"  
  
Dru smirked in reply. "Of course. I never leave without Brink. Don't you always carry your daggers?"  
  
"Of course!"  
  
""Well, there you go." The two of them grinned suddenly before heading out into the cold street. 


	2. One

Okay, not too many people have reviewed...and know what? I don't care. But still...if you read this, at least say something, kay? Anyway, on to the fic! Which, btw, is nearing it's climax by how far we've written...of course, I haven't even gotten close to posting that...MWUHAHAHAHA!!! anyway...off you go!  
  
Dru had insisted that the two take her motorcycle to make time, as they would most likely be late as it were. Dru rode the roads, and if she saw a traffic jam, she would merely speed up and jump onto the sidewalk until they cleared the mess. Dru was crazy like that.  
  
Asilin laughed manically as she watched people scamper for their lives. "That's right, RUN!" she yelled. Since she couldn't kill anyone, this was the next best thing. The only problem was...Asilin didn't like going 97 miles an hour... "Dru? Could ya slow down just a touch?"  
  
Dru suddenly threw on the brakes and went to a skid. She put out her leg to prevent the motorcycle from hitting the ground. "We're here," she said.  
  
Asilin twitched and sighed. "Well, here we go then."  
  
"Have fun. I'll be over by the railing, watching people fall and laughing my ass off as they do so."  
  
"Hey, that's MY hobby!"  
  
With that, Dru walked off, leaving Asilin to fend for herself. She went to the railing, crunching through the snow. One thing she loved was an evening in New York in the snow. A cold wind caressed her face. She leaned against a tree, and watched for Asilin...  
  
Asilin's POV  
  
ÂAsilin sighed dejectedly before heading to a nearby bench. She still couldn't believe she was actually going through with this! But she'd never failed an objective yet, and if the Boss wanted her to meet people, then fine, she'd do it. Sitting on the bench, she crouched down to conserve warmth, her black hair covering her face. Several minutes passed with merry couples walking by, laughing and chatting. Asilin began to stroke her dagger. 'If DarkDragon doesn't show up soon, I may end up breaking my probation,' she thought. Just then, two guys came around the curve. The taller of the two had long red hair and emerald eyes. It was obvious he was used to being a pretty boy in the way he smiled at the gaping girls around him. He was in white jeans, a blue top, and had a blue winter jacket on over that. His companion was much shorter, but much more ominous. He had black hair with a white starburst that defied gravity, crimson eyes, and was wearing a black cloak. The only other piece of clothing you could tell he was wearing were his black boots. As they came closer, she could hear their conversation. "Hiei, are you sure she'll be here?" "Hn. She said she'd be here, and she will be. She's not dishonorable." "How do you know that? You've only met her online!" "Kurama, does it matter? You said you wanted to see the park, so now we're here. Don't worry about my affairs!" The red-head, now identified as Kurama, sighed. "Fine, Hiei, I will. But promise me you'll behave!" "Hn." Asilin smirked. It sounded as if this Hiei was just as bad as Dru and her. She decided to tune them out again though. They probably weren't who she was waiting for. A hand was suddenly placed on her shoulder. She grabbed a dagger from her belt and stood up, holding it to the offender's neck. It was Kurama. Asilin growled and lowered the dagger slowly. "Don't ever touch me," she hissed. He blinked several times. "Hiei, I think she's as fast as you are," he finally stated with a smile. "No one is as fast as me," Hiei said, glaring at Kurama. "Try me," Asilin growled, flipping her dagger into the air. This was more like it! Finally, a chance to fight! Even if he was slightly taller than her. "Hn. I have no time. I'm supposed to meet someone." "Funny. I'm here for the same reason." "You by any chance DemonDragon?" Kurama asked in the ensuing silence. "Yeah, that's me. Which one of you is DarkDragon?" "That would be me." Hiei smirked.   
  
Dru's POV  
  
Dru sighed and straightened her legs on the branch. In desperation, she had climbed to the first branch that she could find to get away from the feelings that were flooding her empathic sense. She watched people skate on the ice. She remembered going as a child. She had never been very good. He balance was off, and she would always have swollen ankles. She took out her sword and began to polish it.  
  
She turned again and looked for Asilin. Asilin stood near the ice now, talking to two men. Asilin had a knife to one the men's neck. She slowly withdrew it, and then she Asilin turned her attention to the shorter man.  
  
Dru raised an eyebrow. What an unlikely pair of friends. But then again, no one would think the laid-back looking Asilin would be friends with a girl who wore a long black trench coat and wore a sword around her waist.  
  
Dru sighed. "I suppose I should go and save those two men before Asilin violates her probation. Gods know the Boss would kill ME."  
  
She slid somewhat gracefully from the tree and slid the sword back into its sheath at her waist. She stuck her gloved hands in her pocket and began towards Asilin and the two men. Since Asilin was talking to them still, Dru figured that one of them must be the one Asilin came to meet.  
  
Thank goodness, she thought. It's about time.  
  
Dru began to approach them from the shadows, slowly, trying to screw with their heads. If she were lucky, then perhaps she would succeed in scaring them off and then the entire night would be off.  
  
And she was just evil enough to do it.  
  
But as she approached them, the taller one, whom she just now really noticed, turned to her. His emerald eyes nearly stopped her. But seeing as how she didn't let anyone frighten, intimidate, or embarrass her, she kept his gaze and slowly approached the small group. She stood there a moment at Asilin's side, waiting for the onna to notice her. Considering that she and the black haired boy were now fighting, she considered that this might take a while.  
  
"Kheldarson," she said.  
  
"HOLD ON DRU!" she yelled at her companion.  
  
Dru raised an eyebrow. "Baka, I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?"  
  
Asilin's POV  
  
Asilin looked at Dru in shock. Dru rarely got drinks for anyone, including herself. "What are you up to?"  
  
"Nothing. Just thought I'd be nice."  
  
"Sure..."  
  
"Okay, I'm saving my hide. Remember your probation, alright? Now what do you want to drink?" Dru demanded.  
  
"Root beer. What else?" Asilin looked at her friend as if she were crazy.  
  
Dru sighed. "Figures. Well, I'll be back."  
  
Asilin turned back to Hiei. "Now, as I was saying, there's no way you're a match for me."  
  
"Baka onna, I'm more than a match for you. You couldn't even touch me!"  
  
"I'm afraid the situation is actually the reverse!"  
  
Kurama sighed before interrupting. "I'm sure the two of you could find someplace to test your strength. It's a large park," he continued, not believing he was actually suggesting this, "so I'm sure there's someplace remote where you won't hurt anyone else. And while you do that, I think I'll go join, what did you say her name was? Dru?"  
  
Asilin nodded at Kurama, before glaring at Hiei. "Let's go, short man."  
  
He glowered at her. "Who are you calling short?"  
  
"Why, I do believe it was you."  
  
He growled. Asilin smirked. Kurama just sighed and said, "You two just go! You won't be satisfied until you work it out!"  
  
The two nodded before running off into the woods. Next thing Kurama heard was, "There's a better spot over here!" "What are you talking about, onna?" "Would you just listen for once?!" He sighed again before going after the other woman.  
  
Meanwhile, Asilin and Hiei had finally agreed on a site and had taken positions opposite to each other, after throwing off their outer garments, leaving Hiei in a black tank top and black pants, while Asilin stood in her jeans and white t-shirt. "Shall this be an anything goes match?" Asilin asked.  
  
"I guess we avoid killing though, correct?" was his response.  
  
"Of course!"  
  
"Fine, onna."  
  
"Quit calling me that!" Asilin yelled before jumping at him, a dagger in each hand. He fazed out with a chuckle and disappeared. "Damn him," Asilin muttered. She whirled quickly to block his katana heading toward her back. He smirked before disappearing again.  
  
This time she ran to the nearest tree and flipped off it, nearly taking Hiei by surprise, who had fazed in to try to hit her in the back again. He turned though and blocked the blow, sending one of her daggers flying. "You've lost one," he smirked.  
  
She glanced briefly towards where the dagger had landed before flipping backwards. When she stood back up, another had replaced the first. "There's more where that came from," she growled.  
  
But Hiei was gone from the spot. She turned quickly and blocked another cut. Then he began a frontal assault. Thrust, block, slash, jump, block, dodge...they continued their dangerous dance for what seemed an eternity. However, little by little, Asilin was backed into a tree until she could no longer do anything but defend.  
  
Asilin glowered as Hiei smirked at her, continuing his offense. Then to her amazement, he knocked one of her daggers away. She continued to block, but without the other dagger, it was harder. She tried to figure out a way to get one of her others, but she couldn't without leaving herself open. She'd just have to create an opening.  
  
Then the impossible occurred. Hiei disarmed her completely and held his katana to her throat. "I do believe I've won," he said, panting slightly.  
  
Asilin growled. "Don't get used to it, bastard."  
  
His eyes narrowed. "Don't ever call me that again!" He pressed the katana into her throat.  
  
"Then don't call me onna!" She glared at him.  
  
They just stared at each other as the snow began to fall.  
  
Dru's POV (same time as before)  
  
Dru sighed, walking as fast as she could to get away from the two. She preferred the whole, "Wasn't there, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped it" approach. She kept walking towards the stand and sighed. She heard someone yelling, "Let's go short man!" and inwardly groaned. Asilin was going to get herself killed.  
  
The thought of the boy touching her made her skin crawl and her blood boil. Killing Asilin was reserved solely for Dru.  
  
"What?" the man behind the counter asked.  
  
Dru raised an eyebrow. "I need a root beer and a hot chocolate."  
  
The man laughed. "Sweetheart, shouldn't you be drinking coffee?" he asked as he handed her the drinks.  
  
Dru smirked. "Coffee kills brain cells. You're the perfect example." She laid a five on the counter. "Keep the change, dumb ass."  
  
She turned around and almost bumped into someone much taller than she. She looked up. It was the man with the green eyes. She took this moment to observe him a bit. He was rather tall with long red hair. He looked like a pretty boy who had led a sheltered existence. Dru sighed. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Not really. I just wanted to get away from the psycho. And your friend."  
  
Dru smirked again. "Asilin IS a psycho."  
  
"She seems rather nice to me," he said.  
  
Dru laughed. "That was rather amusing boy. I needed a good laugh."  
  
The man smiled. He put out his hand. "I'm Kurama."  
  
Dru looked at his hand a moment, but declined. She began past him. "Dru," she said.  
  
"Dru. Is that short for something?"  
  
"Yes." Dru didn't offer anymore.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"If I had one, I'd throw you down it."  
  
Kurama stopped. "You're being mean. I just met you. I am just trying to be polite."  
  
"That's great. You'll go far. Stay in school, kid."  
  
Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Would you please just talk to me? Your friend and mine are battling it out right now, and it could take a very, VERY long time. We may as well make good use of the time and find some common ground to walk on."  
  
Dru turned and sighed. "Fine. What common ground would that be?"  
  
Kurama smiled. "Have you ever ice-skated?"  
  
Dru raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps."  
  
"Would you like to accompany me?"  
  
Dru's eyes dropped. "Not particularly."  
  
"Please?" he asked.  
  
Dru looked up.  
  
"I don't know anyone here, and I wouldn't feel comfortable out there by myself. If I fall, you can laugh at me. And if you fall once, you can quit."  
  
Dru sighed. "If it will get you off of my back, then very well." She sat the drinks down on a bench. She followed Kurama to the rental booth.  
  
"What size do you wear?" Kurama asked.  
  
"Ten. Men's."  
  
Kurama nodded to the woman. The woman returned with the skates. Dru and Kurama proceeded to trade their shoes for skates. Dru did this with practiced ease and stood. Kurama stood and wobbled a bit.  
  
"Have YOU ever ice skated before?" Dru asked.  
  
Kurama smiled. "Once or twice."  
  
Dru sighed. "I'll be having a barrel full of laughs tonight," she thought. Kurama followed her onto the ice. Dru turned as she heard a thump. She hid her laughter as she saw Kurama laying there, rubbing his back. Dru smiled.  
  
"Up you go," she said, pulling him up.  
  
Kurama stood a moment and then almost fell again. Dru caught him before he did so and burst out laughing. "So Kurama, I take it that once or twice involved much slipping and falling?"  
  
Kurama smiled. "As a matter of fact, it did."  
  
They had skated for a while, Dru falling right back into it, while Kurama had obvious problems. Eventually, after a little instruction from Dru, he was finally able to get a hold of the concept. Dru seemed to lighten up a bit. Winter seemed to be her element, and Kurama thought to keep this for later reference.  
  
Dru stopped and sighed. "I wonder where our two cohorts are?"  
  
Kurama shrugged. "They might still be fighting. Look on the bright side. They may kill each other," he said. Dru looked over at him and raised an eyebrow in amusement. He smiled back.  
  
All of a sudden, someone rammed into Dru from behind. She began to lose her balance. Kurama leapt forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, preventing her from falling. They stood there like that for a moment until Dru's heart slowed its beating. She had never been touched like that before—and it was slightly unnerving.  
  
She sighed and straightened, but she clenched her teeth. "Oh, !" she cursed.  
  
"What?" Kurama asked.  
  
"My god-forsaken ankle!" Dru replied through clenched teeth.  
  
Kurama bent a bit, and with oddly graceful movements, he lifted Dru and carried her from the ring over to the bench. This made Dru very uncomfortable, but it gave her a chance to use her empathic skills. She looked into Kurama's eyes.  
  
She saw struggle.  
  
But that was it. That was all she saw before he put her down and practically ripped off her skate. He began looking at her swelling ankle. "It doesn't look too bad," he said. "You stay here. I'll get some gauze." And with that, he ripped off his own skates, threw on his shoes, and went charging through the snow.  
Dru raised her eyebrows and sighed.  
"What the hell just happened?" she asked herself. 


	3. Two

Hmm…some people are reviewing…so…I guess I'll continue posting! To answer some questions, the Asilin's POV/Dru's POV just indicates who's writing. Eventually we settle on just putting Asilin or Dru. Just so you know. Another thing is that we do have a lot written. It's just that I'm lazy and haven't posted. So I'm going to post a few chapters right now and let you read. Umm…that's about it. Oh! And yeah, we're trying to avoid Mary-Sue-isms. Both Dru and I abhor Mary-Sue's. They're annoying. We just want to be ourselves. Well, that's it.

Chapter Two

General

After Kurama took off, Dru was left alone briefly. In fact, it was just a few minutes later that Hiei stalked up, holding Asilin bridal style. Dru eyed the two of them in disbelief.  
Hiei was standing in the middle of the snow with only a tanktop on, while Asilin was unconscious in his arms. Both were covered with light cuts along their arms. But the amazing thing was the fact that Asilin was unconscious. It was a rare thing for her to be like that after a fight, even one with Dru!  
Hiei shifted uncomfortably under Dru's scrutiny for a few minutes. When it became apparant that Dru wasn't going to stop, he sighed and set Asilin down on a nearby bench. He then grabbed his cloak and leaned against the railing across from the two women.  
Kurama ran up at that moment, holding a strip of gauze. He slowed as he saw Hiei and Dru in a staring match. "Hiei, what happened to Asilin?"  
"She tried punching me after I had her pinned to a tree and was clearly the victor. So I knocked her out. She's over there."  
Kurama sighed. "Hiei..."  
"Hn."  
"You don't do that!"  
"Hn. I did, and it's done. It'll teach her better manners."

Dru

No one really understood what happened next, not even Dru really. All she felt was an intense emotion or anger and rage and the need to protect her friend. With speed even she didn't know she possessed, Dru stood up, disregarding the pain in her ankle, and held a very shiny Alucard to Hiei's head.  
"Listen you punk," she said quietly. "That girl, annoying and obnoxious though she may be, is one of the truest friends I have. I would kill for her, and if you ever, EVER touch her in a way that isn't friendly, you'll find yourself with a silver bullet in your head." Her eyes tried to pierce him, though she doubted it worked. "Do you understand me?"  
Hiei said nothing, and Kurama could only watch. Dru, still holding the gun, went to Asilin on the bench, and slung her over her shoulder. She turned back to Hiei one more time, and then turned again.  
"Dru, I'm sure he didn't--" Kurama began, and then he found the gun to his throat.  
"And you," Dru said. "You think that you can win anyone over, don't you, pretty boy? Well guess what? I don't live alone because I'm waiting to be reached out to. I live alone because I like it. Even if you could reach out to me, I would hurt you." She lowered her voice. "And I don't do that to people who are all ready struggling and hurting."  
With that, she withdrew her gun and pointed it to the sky, and went to her motorcylce. She placed her limp friend in front of her, and off they drove on the motorcycle.  
Once Dru reached her apartment, she picked up her friend and carried her upstairs.

Asilin

Asilin woke with a moan, her head pounding bloody murder. She tensed, not quite realizing where she was. Then she relaxed as she noticed the familiar paintings of Dru's creation. But how did she get here? Last thing she remembered was Hiei knocking her out for trying to punch him...  
"I see you're awake, Kheldarson," her friend's voice called out. Asilin looked over the couch to where her friend was rummaging in the kitchen.  
"Yeah. How'd we get here?"  
"I got mad at the two losers, so..."  
"Please tell me you didn't kill them."  
Dru smirked. "Nah. Think I scared pretty boy, though. Hiei didn't even blink when I held Alucard to his head. That's never happened."  
"I don't think he's quite human. His speed was amazing!" Asilin's eyes widened in remembrance. "I'm going to beat him someday."  
Dru cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "Oh? And how do you plan to do that?"  
"More training. What else?" Asilin shrugged. "Anyway, I have to get back to the park." She stood up and grabbed her coat, but fell down as a wave of dizziness hit her.  
Dru looked at her friend coldly. "Why do you want to go back there when you can't even stand?"  
Asilin glared at her. "I lost three of my daggers. I want them back!" The two just mock-glared at each other until a knock sounded from the front door.

Dru

Dru raised an eyebrow. Asilin looked at her. "It's your door," she said. "You go get it." She popped a grape into her mouth. Dru sighed. She kept Brink tied to her waits, just in case. She tended to get attacked sometimes.  
She opened the door and tried not to let her surprise and anger show. There stood Kurama and Hiei. Kurama was smiling and behind his friend.  
"What do you want?" Dru growled.  
"Just returning some weapons," Kurama said. Hiei was looking past Dru at Asilin. Dru shut the door a bit, eliminating the staring contest. Kurama elbowed his friend, who looked at Dru with narrow eyes.  
"Give these to the onna," he said, practically throwing that daggers at Dru. Dru caught them, almost cutting herself, but luckily, she'd been attacked by Asilin with them, so she had a bit of practice catching them.  
Dru sighed. "I would invite you in, but I don't like you." And with that, she shut the door. It took a while for it to register that they had found where she lived.  
She stalked back to the door and opened it only to find the two still standing there. Pointing Alucard at the smaller and Brink at the taller, she growled. "How did you find out where I lived?"  
Kurama laughed a little nervously. "Your motorcycle."  
'Damn,' she cursed herself silently. She had forgotten to put it in the basement of the building. She sighed and withdrew her weapons. She sighed.  
"Was there something else?"  
Kurama smiled again. "Last night put us all in a bad misunderstanding with the others."  
"Really? I thought I made myself quite clear. Did I not threaten you with my gun?" Dru asked.  
"Dru, just kill them all ready!" Asilin yelled.  
"Why that--" Hiei began.  
"HEY!" Dru yelled.  
Hiei froze. "Hn."  
Kurama continued. "We wanted to invite you to dinner tonight. No obligations, you can leave when you like."  
Dru sighed. "Will it get you off my door step?"  
Kurama nodded.  
"Fine. There's a club down the street. We'll meet you in front at seven. If you're late, we're leaving."  
Kurama smiled. "All right."  
Hiei began walking away, but Kurama lingered. "Dru?"  
"What?"  
"I'm not going to give up," he said with a smile.  
Dru, in response, slammed the door shut.

Asilin

Asilin stared at her friend. "Do you just realize what you've agreed to?"  
Dru sighed. "Yes. I'm perfectly aware of what I did."  
"But why?!"  
"I don't know, damn it! Probably to get them away from here!"  
"But why did you choose the club?"  
"It's the only place in town that still allows the two of us in there at the same time!"  
"Oh yeah..." Asilin stood up. "Well, are you going to give me my daggers?" Dru shrugged and tossed them at Asilin. Asilin, with much more ease, caught them and stowed them away into their various hiding spots. "I guess I better go get ready for tonight. This ought to be interesting. Oh and Dru?" Asilin paused at the door.  
"What?"  
"Thanks." She disappeared into the hall.  
Later  
Asilin glanced at herself in the mirror. She'd decided to forgo the usual t-shirt and had grabbed a denim tank top instead. Unlike her friend, she got tired of unrelieved black, which was why she wore the denim. The only problem with the outfit was that she had to leave the two daggers hidden on her back at home. They just didn't fit behind the tank top.  
A knock came from the door. Asilin walked over and opened it, while pulling her black hair into a pony tail. Dru was there, dressed in her usual outfit.  
"Ready to go?"  
"Yeah. By the way, please tell me you left Alucard at home," Asilin looked up at her friend hopefully. "You know it's when you bring Alucard that we get into the most trouble."  
"Why should you care?"  
"Because I just realized that I don't want to be kicked out off every business place in New York City!"  
"It's at home, but you have to leave some of your daggers too."  
"I did," she nodded toward her end table where two daggers sat in their sheaths. "So we gonna go?"  
"Yeah." The two walked out the door.

Dru

Dru shifted and sighed in frustration. She looked down at the silver pocket watch. "They have exactly sixteen seconds to get here, or I'm leaving," she said.  
Asilin smiled. "Maybe their clocks and your watch don't coincide."  
Dru scoffed. "Like I care."  
"So, you decided to show up, eh?" Hiei's voice resounded from just down the street.  
"!" Dru sighed, shoving the watch into her pocket.  
"You don't seem happy to see me, onna," Hiei said to Asilin.  
"That's because I'm not."  
"Hn."  
"Children, play nice. Asilin, remember that this is one of the last places we're allowed to eat at," Dru said, beginning to walk in. Kurama followed Dru in. "Table for four," Dru said.  
The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh, miss Dru, haven't seen you in a while."  
Dru grinned. "Don't worry. Strictly pleasure cruise."  
The woman nodded, but her face reamined pale. "This way, please," she said, leading the four to a table near the front. Asilin and Hiei were arguing behind them. Dru went to go sit, and found Kurama holding her chair out.  
"Don't do that," Dru said.  
Kurama only smiled. "Just being polite."  
"It's getting on my nerves."  
Kurama shrugged. "Humor me," he said.  
Dru sighed and sat down. "You're going to be dead before the night's over."

A few minutes had passed. Hiei and Asilin had gone to the bar to try to sneak some drinks--they finally found something to do except argue--leaving Dru with Kurama. He left for a minute, and because of the intense heat beginning to radiate throughout the club, Dru decided to shed her coat, thus wrapping Brink within it to keep her from being thrown out.  
she felt two eyes on her back. "Stop staring," Dru commanded, taking a drink.  
Kurama came around and sat in front of her. "I'm sorry. I was just admiring your wings. Who did those?"  
Her eyes fell slightly and she took another drink. "A friend."  
"Your friend is talented."  
"Yeah, he was."  
Kurama tried to read her face, but saw nothing. "Was?"  
"He's dead."  
"Oh."  
Dru said nothing for a moment. She sighed. "Where do you think those two went? They've been gone an awfully long time."

Asilin

Asilin glanced back to their table. 'Amazing,' she thought. 'Dru actually took off her cloak.'  
"Onna, what are you staring at?" Hiei's slurred voice asked.  
"Can't hold your liquor, can you shorty?" Asilin responded.  
"I'm not short!"  
"Then quit calling me onna!" The two glared at each other.  
"Hn." Hiei broke away first. Asilin smirked in victory.  
Just then, the song that was playing caught her attention. Smirking again, she turned to Hiei and whispered, "Want to dance?" His crimson eyes met her grey ones, and he nodded.  
He led her out onto the dance floor almost gently before grabbing her roughly to him. The music flooded over them as the moved in a dance almost as dangerous as the one from the day before.

I love you...  
I hate you...  
I can't live without you...

The other couples on the floor gaped at the rough dance the two competed in, at how they tried to gain dominance over one another without tearing each others throats out. Grey eyes flashed at crimson ones, and crimson eyes met the gaze without flinching.

I see... the blood all over your hands...  
does it make you feel... more like a man...  
was it all... just a part of your plan...  
this pistol's shakin' in my hands...  
and all I hear is the sound...

Asilin was amazed at how Hiei was making her feel. She was struggling for a dominance she always had had before, but was failin miserably. Yet, somehow, she didn't care. And that made her struggle even more for control.

I love you...  
I hate you...  
I can't live without you...  
I just can't take anymore...  
this life of solitude...  
I pick myself off the floor...  
and now I'm done with you...  
Always...  
Always...  
Always...

Hiei grabbed her chin and pulled her into a rough kiss. She stiffened in shock but, strangely, relaxed after a few seconds


	4. Three

Chapter Three

Dru

Dru sighed as she watched the two drunken ones out on the dance floor. She watched Hiei pull Asilin into a kiss, and her whole body tensed. She watched for Asilin's reaction, preparing to whip out Brink. She didn't care if it got her kicked out.  
"You're very protective, aren't you?" he asked.  
Dru turned to him. "So?"  
Kurama shrugged. "No reason."  
Dru sighed. "I'm out of here." She stood. Kurama was still watching the two out on the floor, and Dru suddenly felt a little guilty. "You can come if you like," she added.  
Kurama looked up at her and stood. "I'd be honored."  
"Yeah, yeah. You f me off, I'll throw you out the window."  
Kurama smiled. "As you wish. What about--?"  
"They'll be fine. Trust me. She's even more dangerous drunk..."

Dru opened the door and flipped on the light. "Don't touch anything," she said. She walked to the fridge and looked back at Kurama. "Do you want something to drink?"  
Kurama smiled. "Please." He took off his scarf and coat and placed it on the hooks beside the door. He was immediately over taken by her apartment and its decor. He spun around, seeing the walls covered in paint and paintings. He looked up and his jaw hung open. On the ceiling he saw a dark sunrise, and a woman with wings stood facing it.  
He noticed this same woman everywhere. "Who is she?" he asked.  
"Well, I could give you some crap about it being a vision, or I could tell you the truth and tell you that it's basically me."  
Kurama turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."  
"I'd rather not."  
"Fair enough."  
Dru handed him a bottle. "Don't worry," she said, noticing his apprehensive look. "It's root beer. It's all I drink now, thanks to Kheraldson."  
Kurama smiled. "You two seem like unlikely friends."  
"As do you and the short boy."  
Kurama laughed. "Yes, well, we didn't have much of a choice."  
"Neither did Kheldarson and I."  
"Work together?"  
"Yes."  
"What do you do?"  
"Things."  
"Hmmm. Interesting." She went to look at one of the canvases on the wall and couldn't help but notice the tattooed wings again. "Your wings are beautiful."  
"Thanks."  
Kurama's eyes widened. That was a new response. "Your angel is beautiful."  
"Quite a contrast."  
"I don't think so."  
Dru froze and immediately cursed herself for it. "Right. So, what's your game, Kurama? Are you a charmer? If there's someone who doesn't fall to your feet, do you try to win her over?"  
"Quite the contrary. I'm sort of a loner myself."  
Dru's eyes narrowed. "Right."  
Kurama just smiled. He looked into the next room and smiled. "That's a beautiful piano. Mind if I play?" he asked.  
Dru raised an eyebrow. "Sure." She chuckled. "This should be interesting."  
Kurama sat down at the piano and lifted the small fold over the keys. Dru stood in the doorway and watched as his fingers began to grace the keys.  
Dru froze. He was playing a Beethoven piece. She knew that piece anywhere. He played it with such precision and such emotion, that Dru felt her heart melting a bit. Maybe he wasn't COMPLETELY fake.  
After he struck the last key, he paused and looked up. "Beautiful sound," he said, standing.  
Dru nodded. "Found it in a yard sale."  
"Really?"  
"Yes. I bought it and brought it here and worked on it. Almost had to completely replace the frame."  
"You did a wonderful job."  
"Thank you."  
"Do you play anything else?"  
"I dabble."  
"So you're a girl with a dark past who enjoys music and art."  
Dru shrugged. "That's me in a nut shell."  
"I don't believe that," Kurama said. "Not for a second."

A few hours later, the two were sitting in Dru's living room on the floor. "So after you publish a great American novel, what will you do then?" Kurama asked.  
Dru shrugged. "No clue. Live from day to day."  
Kurama nodded. "That's a good way to live."  
Dru smiled. "It's the only way."  
Kurama smiled. He couldn't get enough of her eyes. He was feeling very attracted to her. "You're beautiful, you know that?"  
Dru almost retorted, but she felt true emotion behind his response, so she just looked away.  
"You don't get comments very often, do you?"  
"No," she said. "It makes someone vain and soft."  
"Well, I hope I didn't just ruin that for you."  
Dru chuckled. "No."  
They were silent, both staring into each other's eyes. Dru couldn't seem to take her eyes away.  
"Dru?"  
"Yes."  
"I want to kiss you. May I?"  
Dru couldn't repress the flow of blood and heat to her face. She looked down. "If you want to."  
Kurama laid a soft hand on her cheek and leaned forward. He placed a soft kiss on her lips and pulled back. Dru's breath came out short and fast. Kurama leaned forward and kissed her again, longer this time. He pulled away again, trying to read for any negative signs.  
The lock on the door sounded, and the door knob twisted. The door opened and in stumbled Asilin and Hiei. They were laughing and singing some song in their plastered state.  
Dru smacked her forehead and regretted the day she let Asilin have a spare key.

Asilin

Asilin looked at Dru and Kurama with a huge smile on her face. "Seems to me somebody else gained a buddy tonight," she laughed.

Dru stood up, glaring at her friend. "Why are you here, Kheldarson?"

Asilin blinked several times before answering. "Why to drop off my drinking buddy here. I figured since you and Kurama split on us, you were probably here."

"But why bring him here?!"

"Because I don't want to inadvertently kill my new pal here because of my blinding hangover in the morning." Asilin pushed Hiei in a nearby chair. "Besides, you're the only one who knows where I live in this entire city, and I think I want to leave it like that." She smirked.

"Kheldarson..." Dru began dangerously.

"I know! I'm outta here." Asilin waved before heading out the door. "Oh, and sorry for interrupting you guys." Then she disappeared.

"I swear I'm going to kill her someday," Dru muttered. "I don't care what the Boss says."

Kurama looked at her puzzled. "Why didn't you force her to leave when she entered the room? I'm sure you could have."

"Remember what I said in the club? About her being more dangerous? She's the only person I know who can be as drunk as a lord and still be able to fight like the professional she is. Sometimes she's even quicker drunk than sober."

"So, she isn't really drunk?"

"Oh, she's drunk all right. Otherwise, she'd never have come here. It's a genetic trait as far as she'll tell me."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Dru looked over to the chair Hiei had been pushed into and frowned. "Where'd Hiei go?"

Kurama chuckled. "Hiei doesn't get drunk. Any symptoms he was showing were faked."

"And here I thought only Kheldarson could pull that off."

Kurama shrugged. "He's used to stronger stuff than what's usually available in clubs."

Dru looked at Kurama curiously. "And where would you get that?"

He stood up with a smile. "You have your secrets; I have mine. But enough about that. Do you want to continue where we left off?"

Meanwhile

Asilin stumbled out into the street with a giggle. It wasn't often that she could catch Dru off-guard like that. Staggering slightly, she walked down the street, whistling a random tune while she tossed one of her daggers expertly into the air.

"Isn't it dangerous to play with those when you're drunk?" a familiar voice asked from the shadows.

Whirling around and catching her dagger, she held it to the offender's throat. Then she blinked in surprise.

"Oh, it's you Hiei," she slurred slightly.

"Who else?" he shrugged.

"How come you're not drunk anymore?"

"It takes more than fifteen beers to get me drunk."

"Wow. And here I thought I was the only one who could act drunk convincingly. You just took the prize!" she giggled.

"Hn."

"Spoilsport."

"Whatever. You should be heading home. It's a little too cold for us to be standing here talking on the street." He threw his cloak around her shoulders, leaving him in a blue tank top and his black pants and boots.

She looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you care? I only met you today, really."

"But we've known each other for months. It works out." He shrugged, sending a few snowflakes flying.

"This is just to find out where I live, isn't it?" It wasn't a question.

"Hn."

"And even if I were to leave you here, you'd follow any way, wouldn't you?"

"Hn."

She threw her hands up in exasperation. He chuckled softly. "Fine, whatever, you can come. Just no telling anyone else where I live, and don't blame me if I try to kill you in the morning."

"I doubt you could kill me," he said confidently.

"Don't try me," Asilin growled. "Anyway, let's go." She staggered off again with Hiei striding next to her.

At her apartment, Hiei glanced in surprise at the lack of decoration in her place. "Quite different from your friend's place."

"I'm not as creative as Dru is, so I don't have the bunch of stuff she does." She shrugged. "Besides, I need the space for training."

"Training? Why do you need to train?"

"None of your business."

"And if I made it my business?"

"You wouldn't be living right now." She smiled sweetly at him.

Hiei glanced at her in curiosity. "You keep changing character."

She shrugged indifferently. "Keeps people on their toes. Plus, if nobody knows which side of me is the real me, then they can't use it against me. It helps with the job."

"And what's your job?" He glanced at her slyly.

"Nice try, Hiei," she laughed. "But I'm not so drunk as to fall for that. You're not going to tell me your job, are you?"

"Hn." He looked away.

"Didn't think so." She giggled. "But I'm sure I'll be able to find out. Anyway, you're welcome to stay on the couch if you want. I'm going to bed to see if I can't sleep off this alcohol." She headed over to the bedroom. "Oh, and don't knock on my door in the morning. I've killed several guests that way."

He chuckled wickedly. "Actually, that sounds like fun." He walked over to her as she stared at him like he was crazy. "Good night, Asilin." He drew her into another rough kiss. She struggled briefly, but his arms kept her locked in place. Finally, he let go.  
"If I wasn't so drunk, I would probably kill you for that." She glared at him.  
"I'm sure." His only answer was the slamming of the door.

Dru

Kurama embraced Dru and kissed her again. He began to pull her closer, kissing her more passionately, but Dru pushed him away gently. "No," she said gently. "I think it's time for you to leave," she said, turning abruptly, heading for the door.  
"What?" he asked in confusion. "I thought we--"  
"Kurama!" she said, opening the door. She looked at him. "You have all ready pushed my limits tonight. Go home."  
Kurama blinked. "Pushed your...?"  
"Kurama!" she nearly yelled.  
A great amount of tension began to build between the two. Kurama sighed. "Fine," he said. He grabbed his coat and scarf and went out the door. He stopped. "Can I at least have your--"  
The door slammed.  
"Phone number," he said lamely, looking at the closed door.  
Dru stood staring at the door, tears in her eyes and rage building in her body. She growled and went to her piano. She tried playing. She played violin. When none of that worked, she tried to paint--but even that couldn't soothe her. She looked at her newest creation, the tears welling again. She reached her hand into the paint, gathered much in her hands, and slammed it against the woman in the picture, crying out as she did so. She then froze, looking at what she had just done.  
"That's it," she said softly. "It's time to go kill someone." She donned her coat, and grabbing Brink and Alucard, she stomped out of the door.

The demon ran from her down the dark alley. "Come back here!" she roared, she stopped and raised Alucard, and let out a single bullet. The thing howled and fell into the side of the building. Dru caught up with it and straddled the thing. She grabbed it around the neck. "He thought that he could get me into bed. He thought that if he charmed me long enough, I would give in!" she slammed his head into the pavement. "I ask you, is that fair? Is that all you men ever think about? Answer me!"  
The thing lay underneath her with the swirly eyes to indicate that he was unconscious.  
Dru sighed. She stood. "Figures." She put Alucard away. The demon would live. She was too angry to kill, which put her in an even more foul mood.  
"Stupid charmer. I knew it, I knew it!" she said to herself madly. She was walking, swinging her sword, shaking Alucard, and being just...well, creepy...  
She eventually stopped. She felt something cold and wet land on her nose. It was snowing again. She sighed. She kept walking, head down, deep in fuming thought.  
She stopped suddenly. Looking up, she saw the skating ring. She and Kurama had skated there not to long ago.  
"Woah!" she said, shaking her head. "None of that now."  
"None of what?"  
Dru spun. Her eyes narrowed. There stood Kurama. He stood, hands in his pockets, merely watching her. "You," she hissed. With a cry, she brought Alucard out and held it against Kurama's throat. "Are you following me?"  
"Maybe."  
"Were you?"  
"Maybe. Again, you have your secrets," he said pointedly. "And I have mine."  
Dru blinked. "What?"  
"I'll tell you what. You tell me why you threw me out tonight and I'll tell you if I was following you or not."  
Dru watched him a moment, and then lowered her sword. "No deal," she said, walking away.  
"Dru! Don't walk away from me!"  
Dru froze. "Oh no, he just didn't." She turned. "Did you just try to tell me what to do?"  
Kurama nodded. "Yes, I did."  
Dru sighed. "That's why I threw you out."  
Kurama raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
"I threw you out because you were getting ideas of what you wanted me to do. I don't...I can't do that."  
Kurama blinked. "I'm confused."  
Dru sighed. "Never mind," she said. With that, she walked off, leaving Kurama to think.

Asilin

The bright light of the sun streamed in to caress the sleeper's face. Asilin groaned and opened her eyes. Why couldn't her genetics have given her the ability to overcome hangovers quickly? She groaned again and tried to roll out of bed.

However, her objective was thwarted by a pair of arms. Asilin screamed bloody murder causing Hiei to fall out of the bed. Asilin grabbed two daggers off her end table, and stalked over to Hiei. "How dare you!" she yelled. "I told you the couch, not my room, not my bed, the couch!!!"

"You didn't seem to mind when I came in." He smirked. "In fact, you agreed to it."

"I was asleep!!!"

"So?"

"GET OUT!!!" He smirked again but stood up as she advanced towards him.

"I'm going."

"Go faster!" She continued to advance as he headed towards the front door.

He opened it but turned to face her. "I'll see you around," he stated with a chuckle.

"No you won't!" she screamed. He laughed at her as he headed down the hall. "I'll kill you if I ever see you again!" She slumped against the door frame and rubbed her head. The headache she had been ignoring was now killing her.

"You too, huh?" a voice said from the other side of the hall.

"That you, Dru?"

"Of course. What he do, Kheldarson?" Dru asked in dry amusement.

"I found him in my bed this morning. I told him he could sleep on the couch if he wanted, but obviously that wasn't good enough." She wandered back into her apartment with Dru following, and collapsed on the afore mentioned couch. "But what did you mean 'you too'?"

"I had some issues with Kurama. He was trying to tell me what to do."

Asilin cocked an eyebrow at her friend. "You don't have to be in charge all the time, Dru."

"Whether I do or don't is none of your concern, Kheldarson." Dru glared at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She got off the couch and went into the kitchen.

As Asilin began to brew some coffee, Dru asked, "What about you? What's wrong with finding a guy in your bed, assuming he didn't do anything?"

"I can't do it, Dru. I can't." Asilin winced as the coffee maker started beeping. Pouring herself a cup, she wandered over to the window.

Dru poured herself a cup before asking, "Can't do what?"

Asilin looked sharply at Dru. "I thought we agreed not to ask about each other's past."

"You never said this was about your past."

"Well, now you know that much. Drop it."

"Don't think so. You seem to need to work this one out."

"Will you tell me something about your past?"

"Perhaps."

Asilin sighed. She knew that was the closest she was going to get to a promise from Dru on this one. "Fine. In a nut shell, I fell in love with a guy my first year in the agency. He was completely sweet and really intelligent, and I fell hard." She snorted. "That was my misfortune. Turned out he was an agent for China. I caught him giving top secret information to the head of Chinese intelligence. He was also promising to give him some information on one of the newest spies who seemed to be destined for great things. He mentioned me by name. Well, when the two parted ways, I confronted him. I killed him in the following fight," Asilin trailed off briefly before continuing. "I vowed to never let that happen again. That's what that was about. Now it's your turn." She turned to Dru expectantly.

"Don't think so." Dru smiled secretively.

"Oh, that's okay. I already know a bit about your past anyway."

"What?!" Dru pulled out Brink. "Talk. Now."

"Put away Brink. It's your own fault really."

Dru put her sword away. "How's it my fault?"

"You always paint the same guy in your paintings. And he's always holding some sort of item that can be used as a weapon. It seems to me," Asilin continued, ignoring her friend's stare, "that he's probably your dad or someone who was in charge of you during childhood, but he abused you. What?" She met Dru's gaze.

"How did you put all that together?" Dru hissed.

"There is a reason why I do the information gathering for our team."

"Well, you don't tell my story, and I don't tell yours. Agreed?" Dru held out her hand.

"Agreed." Asilin shook on it.


	5. Four

Chapter Four

Dru

Dru stared at the wall. She had never really noticed it before, but Kheldarson was right. She did paint him over and over in her paintings, and he was always holding something.  
A flash of her screaming under her step-father made her close her eyes and shiver. She'd killed the bastard. No one knew that but her. Her mother had told her to go away and never come back. So she had.  
Dru opened her eyes again as a sound came from behind the door. She went to door and opened it to find a small man in a suit.  
"Sam?" she asked in mild confusion.  
The man handed her a note. With that, he smiled, bowed, and went down the hall. Sam was mute, so Dru merely shook her head and closed the door. She opened the note and scanned its contents. Once finished, she sighed and walked to a candle. She lit the tall white thing and burned the note whole. She watched it burn and then went to the phone. She dialed a number and then went to her paints and canvas to finish a painting.  
"Hello?" came a slightly tired voice.  
"Kheldarson?"  
"What?"  
"The Boss wants us back."

"So you're telling me," Asilin said as they were walking down the street. "That there's some big dinner for some demon overlord, and we're supposed to go to this dinner and kill him?"  
Dru nodded.  
Asilin smiled. "The Boss always knows what to get me for Christmas."  
"Of course, this means we have to dress up."  
"In?"  
"Dresses, what else?"  
Asilin stopped as her eyes bugged out of her head. "Dru in a dress. I never thought I would live to see the day."  
"Shut up Kheldarson. You have to wear one too."  
"Aww, damn it!"

Asilin sighed. "Dru, come out of your bedroom, NOW!" she yelled.  
"I don't want to! Go without me!"  
"Oh no! If I have to look like a girl then so do you!"  
The door opened and Asilin had to repress her laughter. Dru looked stunning in the black evening gown, but it was rather funny to see her so elegant. This was the girl who went for black jeans and long sleeve shirts and boots. The same girl who had a gun and a sword. The same girl who rode a motorcycle!  
Dru, on the other hand, was thinking in her mind how long it had been since Asilin had worn a dress. It had been so long...  
"Are we going, or are you just going to stare at me more?" Asilin asked in irritation.  
"Shut up Kheldarson." She hiked up the skirt of her dress and attached Brink to her left garter, and then Alucard to her right. She then picked up a small purse with silver bullets. Good for anything.  
"Ready?"  
"And away we go."

The evening hall was large. The two stood in front of it in awe.  
"Wow..."  
"Shall we?" Dru asked, beginning up the steps.  
"Dru?"  
"Onna?"  
They both froze. They turned slowly to see Kurama and Hiei regarding them strangely.  
Kurama's eyes bugged out of his head. Dru was wearing a two-piece black evening gown. The back was mere laces criss-crossing up and down. She looked sexy and stunning at the same time.  
Hiei was well amazed too. Asilin, little miss tomboy...wearing a rather sexy looking blue dress. It was a little tight to right above the waist, and then it flared out in a sort of spiral.

Kurama walked up the stairs towards her, his hands in his coat pocket. He stopped a few steps from her.  
"I don't have time--" she began, but Kurama took her hand.  
"Wait."  
"Kurama, let me go!" she said, a slight panic attack arising in her. Her step-father used to do that, and it was all too familiar and painful.  
Kurama wouldn't let go. "Look Dru, I care for you deeply in the short time that I've known you. I know there's something wrong, and I'm not going to let a small fight push me away. You can't. Whether you like it or not, I'm falling for you, and I happen to believe you feel the same for me. I'm asking...I'm begging you to get over whatever the deal and move on."  
Suddenly Kurama doubled over. Dru had kicked him in the groin . She stood there, rubbing her wrist.  
She turned to her companion who had had some words with Hiei it seemed. "Kheldarson."  
"What?"  
"Come on. We have to do this."  
And with that, the two entered the building, leaving the two boys outside.

Asilin

Asilin was still seething as she and Dru headed into the hotel. If it weren't for their cover, she seriously would've been fighting Hiei right about then. True, it was nice he had attempted to apologize, but insinuating that she could honestly enjoy fully sleeping with him was just wrong! Especially when he sounded so sure of himself.

"What's wrong, Kheldarson?" Dru pulled them both into a semi-secluded corner.

"Just that bastard out there. Nothing else. Although I'm kinda curious as to why they're here." Asilin frowned slightly. "Especially since it seemed they were waiting for something."

Dru looked at her friend in amazement. "They were just walking by."

"And just happened to notice us halfway up the steps? I don't think so."

"Well, a little bit of suspicion won't hurt. Now come on. We're going to be late." Dru stalked off towards the ball room doors only to be stopped by Asilin.

"Dru!" Asilin hissed. "Now it's my turn. Calm down! We'll worry about both of the bakas later." Asilin then glided over to the ball room doors herself. Dru rolled her eyes but moved over to join her friend who was now simpering to the usher.

"But sir! I know I had the invitations right here, couldn't you just let my friend and me in?" She smiled a smile more befitting of an airhead. "I'm sure Dhaemhon will be so upset to hear we aren't allowed in!"

The usher gulped. "Of course, ma'am," he stuttered. "I'll let you in right away." And the doors swung open.

Inside was a whirlwind of colors and people. Couples were dancing on the floor, hanging over railings, sitting at tables. In an upper balcony, across from the door, Dhaemhon sat with his cronies, overseeing the festivities. Asilin and Dru hurried to a corner to check their gear.

"Got Alucard and Brink?"

"Of course. What about your daggers?"

"I've got five on me. Couldn't find a sixth place to put the other."

"So we're good to go?"

"Yes."

"Do we socialize briefly for info or go right for the kill?"

Dru sighed. "You always want more information, don't you?"

"How else do you prepare? You have to have the information!"

"You know, Kheldarson, I'm going to laugh the day you make a decision without collecting data." Asilin growled as Dru chuckled.

"Fine, we won't socialize. Let's just do this then." So the two of them headed down the stairs to mingle in among the crowd.

It wasn't long before Dhaemhon invited the two of them up see him. "It seems that you lovely ladies are all by your lonesome," he drawled.

"Well, sir," Asilin simpered, "we were hoping to have the chance to talk with you, and dates just wouldn't have worked. It's not every day one gets to meet someone as powerful as you." She sat in the chair next to him and leaned on his arm.

Dru gagged slightly but moved to do the same, carefully watching the other men and their dates move away to join the dancing. Just a few more to go...

"What about you, delightful girl? Do you feel the same as your friend?" Dhaemhon leered at Dru.

Dru felt the old anger rising but squelched it briefly until the final few began to leave. "Well, sir, actually..." she lowered her voice to a whisper, forcing him to lean in closer, "I'm here to kill you." She whipped out Brink just as the last couple disappeared into the crowd.

Dhaemhon roared in shock. "Assassin!" He transformed from his human form into his demon one. Dru and Asilin rolled away, but not before getting a few cuts in.

"Why'd you go and do that, Dru?!" Asilin yelled as she pushed a few underlings down the stairs and then blocked an arm sent by Dhaemhon.

"Sorry but I will not stand to have a demon leering at me!" Dru yelled back as she attempted to get past Dhaemhon's flailing arms.

"Could you have at least not told him we were going to kill him?!"

"Can we discuss this later? I'm kinda busy here!"

"And you think I'm not?!" Asilin decided that enough was enough with the underlings. She sighed but hurled one of her daggers at a nearby column, hitting it in the weak spot. It collapsed immediately, but her dagger shattered. Asilin winced before pulling out another dagger out from underneath her dress. She then turned to face Dhaemhon.

Asilin and Dru fought long and hard, but every time they cut off one of his arms, it grew back a few seconds later. "How the heck do we get rid of a guy if his body parts just keep growing back?" Dru growled to Asilin.

"Not sure," Asilin said cutting another arm. "Hope he gets tired before we do, I guess."

"What really stinks is that I can't even pause long enough to get out Alucard!"

"I could try to cover for you."

"Fine." Dru backed up briefly, letting Asilin take over the whole fight. However, she still found herself blocking just as many arms as before even though Asilin was moving faster than ever.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Rose Whip!" Dhaemhon's eyes widened in shock as a thorn-covered whip passed through his body, ripping him to shreds.  
Asilin and Dru backed up, fully prepared to take on whoever had just stopped their fight. Their eyes widened as they took in a couple of familiar faces.  
"Kurama?"  
"Hiei?"  
"What the heck are you two doing here?" the two yelled together.

General

Dru's anger continued to rise until she found herself once more holding Alucard up to Kurama's head. "That's it! I'm gonna kill ya!" she began yelling in her crazy state.  
"DRU!" Asilin yelled, shoving her friend's arm down. "Do you have to use Alucard all the time? At least do something original!"  
"Like bleeding them to death? That would make me really happy right about now!"  
"Dru."  
"Drat," she spat. She took some deep breaths and pulled back into her calm stage. She sighed and looked down. "You know, this dress cost five hundred dollars. And now look at it," she said, indicating that the dress had been ripped and burned almost to her...well, you know. She looked and felt like a hooker.  
"Oh well. The Boss--"  
"Is dead."  
"Right. Dead. You know, like in a video game."  
"Right."  
"Yup."  
Dru and Asilin merely looked around, then at each other.  
"That was lame."  
"Yeah."  
"The Boss?" Hiei asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"Oh, look at the time!" Asilin said. She grabbed Dru's arm. "Getting late. Gotta go--"  
"Asilin! Dru!"  
The two froze. A big black man appeared from the stairs with a small squad behind him. "Stay where you are. And you two!" he said, looking at the boys. "Move, and you die."  
"I rather like that concept," Dru said.  
"Sir, it's all right. They're fine. We handled the demon."  
"What?" the man exclaimed. The girls ducked their heads in embarrassment. "You're telling me that the pretty boy and the short guy--"  
"I AM NOT SHORT!" Hiei yelled.  
"--beat you guys here?"  
"Well, sorta..." Dru said.  
"Sorta?"  
"Can we go somewhere a bit more private?" Dru asked, looking around as several people were coming out from hiding.  
The Boss sighed. "Fine. Outside."  
"Oh yeah, much more private," Asilin mumbled.  
"And you two!" he pointed to the boys. "You're coming with us."

The ride back to HQ was silent in the back of the large garbage truck looking vehicle. Asilin and Dru sat across from Hiei and Kurama who wore cuffs. They would look at each other, and then away. No one spoke. Until...

Asilin

The big black man turned around to look at the four in the back. "Dru, Asilin," he barked. "Take those two to level 4. Put them in one of the cells and then report to me. I want some answers!"  
The girls glared at him before replying, "Yes, Boss."  
The doors to the back then opened, and the girls pushed the boys out. The boys glared at the girls but subsided as multiple guns were cocked all around them.  
"Damn you, onna," Hiei muttered to Asilin as she escorted him through the brick building.  
"It's not my fault you guys showed up," Asilin hissed back.  
"It's a good thing we did! You'd never have beaten him."  
"You don't know that!"  
"Hn." Asilin sighed at this before pushing him into a cell with Kurama. She blinked as Dru stalked off.  
"You're just going to leave me here with them?!" she yelled after Dru.  
"I'm getting out of this thing. They can't do anything in there anyway," Dru called back before disappearing around the corner.  
"Asilin?" Kurama's quiet voice asked.  
"What, Kurama?" Asilin leaned against the wall facing the cell.  
"Where are we?"  
"Can't tell you that." She shrugged. "Besides, I don't think you'd like the answer very much."  
"Then can you tell me what's up with the cell? It's very uncomfortable."  
Asilin glanced at him sharply. "I wish you hadn't said that. I really wish you hadn't."  
"Why?"  
She ignored that. "Is it affecting you too, Hiei?"  
"Hn." His eyes refused to meet hers.  
"I'll take that as a yes."  
"DRU!!! ASILIN!!! Get in here NOW!!!" the Boss's voice filled the hall.  
Asilin winced before running down the hall to the office. Dru joined her shortly before entering the room. Both of them grimaced as they watched him pace back and forth behind his desk. Finally, he slammed his hands onto the desk. "Do one of you want to tell me what happened?!" he roared.  
"She started it. She can tell it." Dru pointed at Asilin.  
"Traitor," Asilin muttered. Dru just smirked.  
"Well?" the Boss demanded.  
"Well, you wanted me to get a social life, so there you go. The one with black hair is a guy I met online a couple of months ago. He told me a couple days ago, in fact the same day you put me on leave," she glared at him, "that he was going to be in town. So I went to meet him. I asked Dru to come with me, and he had his friend with him." She paused for breath.  
"Well, what are their names?"  
"Hiei's the black haired one and the other is Kurama," Asilin replied, noticing the slight frown on the Boss's face. He motioned for her to continue as he began to sift through files. "Well, we had some issues, but that isn't really important. When we got to the hotel, they noticed us entering, and we had some light discussion. We shrugged it off and went in to take care of Dhaemhon. Turns out somebody failed to tell us he could regenerate those arms of his. Basically, we were having a hard time till Kurama pulled out something he called a rose whip," she finished in a rush.  
"Hmmm...very interesting," the Boss said, all his attention turned toward the files in his hands. Asilin frowned and turned towards Dru with a question in her eyes. Dru shrugged in response. They sat silently, waiting for the Boss to tell them what was going on.  
Finally, he put the files down. "I suppose it's a good thing you met them. Turns out those two are some of the most powerful demons out there. You two need to go question them." Asilin and Dru just looked at him in shock.

Dru and Asilin raised an eyebrow each. "Now that's just disturbing," Asilin said. Hiei and Kurama were both asleep, leaning against each other in the back of the cell. "You can begin," she said.  
Dru smiled. "Be happy to." She slammed the door open, causing Kurama and Hiei to fall into the floor. "All right, you two. Get up," she said, whipping out Alucard. "We want answers. And my good friend Alucard is here to make sure that we get them."

Dru

"So, basically, you're telling us that you two are some really powerful demons...and you fight to kill demons...and you work for...?" Asilin said.  
"The Reikai Tentei," Kurama answered.  
"Why don't you listen, onna?" Hiei asked in irritation.  
Dru sighed against the bars of the cell. She looked down. "Another demon to fight," she whispered to herself. "Just when I thought I was rid of them all."  
"Hey Dru, why don't you come over here and help me out?"  
"Kheldarson, who has been giving 90 of this interrogation?"  
"You."  
"Exactly. You like getting the facts, so you do some questioning."  
Asilin growled. "Fine," she said, mumbling something about sleep and poison daggers.  
Kurama frowned. Dru hadn't even looked at him, and this bothered him more than he would have liked. He sighed. "Look, we didn't want to keep this a secret from you--"  
"Yes we did. We were trying to protect you two, and it seems we chose to do the right thing. You two are weak."  
"Hiei?" Dru's voice came.  
"What?"  
"Has it ever occurred to you that no matter how cocky you try to be, you're always going to be a loser?"  
Asilin burst out laughing, Hiei turned red, and Kurama stared. Dru sighed. "Look, we have to take you to the Boss now. He wants to speak with you some more. I suggest you come with us quietly," she said, beginning out of the cell.  
Hiei and Kurama stood and walked out of the cell slowly, following the black trench coat and shiny gun. Asilin followed in the back.

Asilin and Dru stood out in the hallway, waiting for the Boss to finish. He had told the girls to wait for him out there. Dru sighed. "I'm so tired. I wish he'd hurry up."  
"I'm finished, Dru," came the Boss' voice as he opened the door.  
Dru sighed. "Sorry sir."  
"All right girls. I want you two for another mission."  
Asilin began laughing.  
Dru sighed. "No more dresses, please."  
The Boss grinned. "Nope. This one's a little...more civilian-like. I want you to take the boys home and keep them there."  
Dru's eyes must have been the size of saucers. She straightened. "Sir, you can't be serious!"  
"I am. That's your assignment."  
"But--"  
"Good night, Dru."  
Dru sighed and growled as Hiei and Kurama came out of the room.  
"So I suppose you're stuck with us tonight," Hiei said sardonically.  
Dru narrowed her eyes at him. "Again with the fantastic, false ego."  
"Dru, you take Kurama to your place. Hiei can come home with me," Asilin said.  
Dru's eyes darted to her. "Kheldarson, that's not a good idea."  
"Dru," Asilin's eyes bore into her.  
Dru sighed. "Fine, Kheldarson. But if you wake up with one of your own daggers in your chest, don't come crying to me."  
"I'll be fine," Asilin grinned.

Dru sighed at the man on her couch. He was looking at the painting on the ceiling. Dru grabbed his wrist and inserted the key into the cuffs. "Try anything and you die," she said, walking with Alucard in her hand.  
Kurama rubbed his wrists and sighed. "I really wish you'd say something to me other than "Go away" and "Die". Sort of like the other night, when you shared your dreams with me."  
Dru froze and turned to him. "Kurama, forget about that. Move on."  
"Hypocrite."  
"What?"  
"You heard me. You can't stand it when someone is stuck on their past, but it's all right for you to be."  
"Kurama, you don't know me, and you never will. That's the way it is."  
"Why?"  
"What?"  
"Why do you keep yourself tucked away from everyone?" He stood. "You have several talents and beautiful qualities about yourself! You are a great woman, but you hide behind your past and call it an excuse."  
Dru was fuming. "I do not make excuses, and I have never, EVER hid from anyone or anything," she said, walking forward slowly. She was becoming increasingly angry. "You were not there those nights. You didn't fear every night. You didn't think, is tonight the night he'll lose it? YOU DON'T KNOW!" she finished yelling.  
Kurama blinked. "Who hurt you?" he asked.  
Dru turned. "None of your business."  
"Someone did."  
"You're right. They did."  
"Please!" Kurama nearly yelled, stomping his foot. "Tell me how I can help you past this!"  
"Help me?" Dru hissed.  
"Dru," Kurama began, not taken aback. "I care for you very much. That's not going to change. There is this beautiful woman inside of that darkness, and I want to be with her. "I want to hold her and kiss her and love her and chase her demons for her. But you won't let me!"

Dru's eyes watered. "Fine. You want to know the big, bad secret? My step father raped me. Every night of my life, he came into my room, blind drunk, and raped me. He crushed me under him, he tore through me. He killed my soul. And then, one night, I killed HIM. I beat him to death and then my mother threw me out. There. Ya happy?" she yelled.  
Kurama watched a moment, and then stepped forward. "Dru..."  
"You weren't there."  
"I wasn't. If I had been..." He embraced her quickly. Dru didn't fight it. She couldn't. "Dru, if I had been there, I would have killed him for you."


	6. Five

Asilin: Well...I promised darkspirals I would post this if she posted the next chapter of her story up...so here you go!

Dru: Baka.

Asilin: What? So I'm a little addicted to the story. Wanna make something of it? >draws a dagger>

Dru: shrugs Not really. Just saying.

Asilin: >glares>

* * *

Chapter Five

Asilin

Asilin sighed in relief as she entered her apartment. This was one of the few places she felt she wasn't being watched and evaluated. She tossed her coat on the computer chair and motioned for Hiei to take a seat on the couch.

"Are you going to undo these cuffs, onna?" he asked arrogantly.

She smirked and shook here head before turning toward the kitchen. "Don't think so. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time you were here."

To her shock, she suddenly had a chain around her neck. "I suggest, onna, you remember that I'm a demon and no longer have to hide my speed anymore." His hot breath tickled her ear. Asilin repressed the urge to shiver.

"Damn you," she hissed.

"Are you going to get these things off me?"

"As soon as you let go." Suddenly the chain was gone. She turned to glare at Hiei, only to find him back on the couch. She grumbled under her breath about cocky, arrogant youkai. But she walked over to the couch and unlocked the cuffs, ignoring Hiei's gaze.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked as she walked toward her room.

"To get changed," she stated bluntly. "I'm sick of this dress, and it's annoying to wear something that's torn anyway." She gestured to the rips around her stomach and the way the skirt was hanging in strips. She turned back around to her room, but instantly felt Hiei's hands around her waist. She stiffened slightly as his rough hands touched the bare skin of her stomach.

"You look good in the dress though," he whispered into her ear.

"Good for me," she growled, wrenching herself from his grasp. "Now if she'll excuse me." She stalked into her room and shut the door firmly. 'What is that youkai doing?' she wondered slightly before heading to her dresser.

When she emerged from her room, she was in a pair of navy blue cotton shorts and a white tank top. However, she still had a dagger at her waist. Hiei eyed her from his lounging position on the couch. "What?" she snapped, placing her hands on her hips. "It's my home, and this is what I wear. Deal with it."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to."

"One question though. Why the dagger?"

She arched an eyebrow. "I'm rarely without a dagger. I feel more comfortable with it."

"You don't trust me." He said it flatly.

"Can you blame me?"

"Hn." Asilin rolled her eyes at his usual response. She padded softly into the kitchen and grabbed a root beer from the fridge. After a moment, she grabbed another.

"Here." She tossed it to Hiei. He looked at it suspiciously. "It's just root beer." She drained her can and threw it in the trash. Hiei just set his down on the floor. Asilin shrugged before heading to the computer area. Here she pulled out a whetting stone and began to sharpen her weapon.

"Onna?" Hiei said after a moment.

"Don't call my that," she replied absently.

He ignored that. "Do you only know how to fight with those daggers?"

She looked up at him and frowned. "No, I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand. It's just that daggers are quicker. Why?"

"Let's see how good you are," he said, rising and discarding his cloak.

"Works for me," she replied with a smirk.

They moved to the empty section of the apartment. Circling each other, they kept their feet apart, hands spread, and crouched low. Their eyes never broke contact. Whoever broke first was bound to lose.

At last, they leapt at each other and grappled int eh middle of their self-made circle. Fists went flying, feet shot out, and both rolled, twisted, and moved in what seemed to be a perfectly matched rhythm.

Then, to Asilin's horror, she threw a punch too hard, throwing her balance off. Hiei caught the mistake and smirked before kicking her legs out from underneath her. She fell hard, and he pinned her to the ground beneath him by holding her arms. Their chests heaved as they both struggled for breath. "I believe I've won again, onna," Hiei finally got out.

Asilin growled at him but stopped as soon as she met his eyes again. His crimson eyes were darker than normal and full of emotion. Her grey eyes widened, and she struggled to get up.

"Hiei, get off of me," she hissed, wishing desperately she had kept her dagger on her.

"Why?" he said huskily. He began to lower his face towards hers.

"Hiei, please get off!" she insisted, her voice filled with panic.

He frowned as he rolled off of her. She bolted to the window on the other side of the room. "What the hell is wrong?!" he demanded.

"It's a weakness. You and I are fighters and can't allow ourselves weaknesses. I don't want to worry about anyone, and I don't want anyone to worry about me. We can be friends, but nothing more." She smiled wanly at him.

He snorted. "Too bad you don't really believe that."

"How would you know?" she sneered.

"I know," he said ominously, a spot glowing beneath the bandanna that wrapped around his forehead.

"A jagan," Asilin breathed, her eyes wide. "You're a Jaganashi?!"

"Obviously. Now tell me why I'm sensing a betrayal on your mind."

Asilin wrapped her arms around herself defensively and looked out the window. "It was my first year in the agency. My family starts training earlier than most others, so we all end up getting in one of the government agencies at an earlier age. I was 16 at the time. My partner was 20. I thought the world of him, and he seemed to feel the same way. He was good looking, smart, funny, everything a girl could want. Well, after a few months as partners, he left the office suddenly during the lunch hour. He wouldn't tell me where he was going, so I followed him. He went to a nearby library." She paused, lost in the memory. Hiei walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't accept the gesture, but she didn't reject it either.

"What happened then?" he asked gently.

"I found him talking to the head of the Chinese intelligence," she continued dully. "He was giving away information on top secret projects we'd been working on! I could've dealt with that, but then he said that next time he would be bringing information on a new spy who seemed to be rising fast in the ranks. When asked the name, he named me! The bastard was going to tell the Chinese everything he knew about me! I confronted him in an alley on the way back to the agency. I killed him in the fight." She moved out of Hiei's arms and leaned against the window. "He was my first kill."

"What's so wrong with that?"

"What do you mean?! I fucking loved him, and he betrayed me! I'm supposed to be okay with that?" Asilin yelled at him. Hiei watched her with shuttered eyes. "I vowed that day to never let it happen again, and it won't because I won't let anyone get that close again!"

"Yes you will. You want to." Hiei smirked.

"How would you know what I want?!"

Hiei closed the gap between the two of them and kissed her. She tried to pull away, but he put one hand on her lower back and the other at the back of her neck. He licked her lower lip to entice her to let him in. When she refused, he pulled her black hair slightly. As she gasped from surprise at the slight pain, he plunged his tongue in and explored every corner of her mouth. She moaned in pleasure against his lips. After a minute or so, he pulled away. "I know because you've never rejected my kiss," he whispered against her lips.

Asilin stared at him for a second before fleeing to her room and slamming the door. Hiei made no move to follow.

* * *

Dru

Kurama sat on the floor against the wall. He couldn't take his eyes from Dru. He was still amazed at what had happened last night. Dru had actually let him hold her. She had cried and cried until she had passed out. He had put her on the couch and covered her up. He had spent the night watching over her.  
He tilted his head and smiled softly. She was always beautiful, but now she looked innocent, how she must have once upon a time.  
He sighed quietly. How could anyone hurt someone so beautiful? His mind swirled with impending anger. He began thinking about how he wished that he could go back in time and keep it from happening...  
But he couldn't.  
"You can stop watching me," came a soft voice.  
Kurama blinked. Dru's eyes were open.  
"How long have you been awake?"  
"Long enough to notice. How long have you been up?"  
"All night."  
"You didn't sleep?"  
"Couldn't, more like it."  
Dru sat up and yawned. She looked at Kurama for a while. "Kurama?"  
"Yes?"  
"I know you care for me and that you've been trying a great deal to push through this wall I have around me. But please...you have to stop."  
Kurama sighed. "Not again."  
"Kurama..."  
"Dru, how could you?"  
"Kurama, no one can be with me. That's just the way it is. I'm in a dangerous business. I may not come home one day." She paused and looked up into Kurama's eyes. "I would never do that to someone I care about. Asilin and I...we're lone wolves. We have to keep it at friendship and nothing more."  
Kurama blinked. "I can't believe you're telling me this."  
"I can."  
Kurama closed his eyes and lay his head back against the wall.  
"I'm going to get a shower."  
"Fine," he said, not looking at her.  
Dru's heart clenched. She stood went to the bathroom. She sighed a moment and opened the door. "Kurama--" she froze. No one was there now. Her eyes widened and she ran to the hall way. No one. She sighed.  
"Well, hell," she said, shutting the door to her apartment.

Dru had just gotten out of the shower when she heard a knock at the door. She ran to the door. "Kurama--" She froze and her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"  
"I came to talk, ningen."  
Dru sighed. "What do you want?"  
"I came to--"  
"Talk, yeah, I got that. About what?"  
"Let me in and I'll tell you."  
"How about you tell me now."  
"How about you let me in."  
"God...you're just like Kurama."  
"What?"  
"Nothing," Dru sighed. "Come in," she said in defeat.

* * *

Asilin

Asilin nearly fell out of bed at the knock at her door. She glanced at the clock. It read nine o'clock. 'Dru wouldn't come over this early,' she thought groggily. Stretching, she wandered out of her room and into the rest of her apartment. Glancing at the couch, her eyes clouded briefly with pain when she didn't see Hiei there. However, she shunted the feeling to the side as she walked over to the door.

It was Kurama. "How'd you get here?" Asilin asked in surprise.

"Walked, how else?" he replied.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. How'd you find me?"

"Long story short, Hiei."

"Remind me to kill him later. I suppose you should come in, but why aren't with Dru?" She frowned as she realized he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Another long story, but I was hoping you could help me with it."

"Fine. Get in here." Asilin stepped aside to allow Kurama to pass.

He blinked at the contrast between Asilin's and Dru's apartments. "Very interesting decoration, Asilin."

"What decoration?" she snorted. "I don't paint; I don't express myself creatively; I have very little taste in music. I keep this place as plain as the rest of my life. It's less distracting." She moved into the kitchen. "Want some coffee? I know Dru has some notion that it kills brain cells, but I need a cup to jump start me."

"Coffee would be fine." He sat at the table. She handed him a cup before sitting down across from him. They sat in silence for a few moments before Asilin put her cup down and leaned back in her chair.

"What's the problem with Dru?"

"Did I say anything about a problem?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you're here, not there, mentioned you wanted help, so put two and two together, and you get problems with Dru." She smirked. "Now spill."

So he did. He talked about what Dru had told him, told her about what he felt for Dru, went on about his lack of understanding of the whole situation. He talked for an hour before finally finishing.

"You done now?" Asilin asked, taking another drink of her root beer.

"Yeah. Can you help me?"

"Sorta." She cocked her head at him before sighing. "What you've got to understand is what she told you about her and me. We are loners," she said the last sentence slowly and distinctly.

"So are Hiei and I, but that doesn't make it wrong to love."

Asilin gave him a small smile. "Well, you two are demons. It takes a lot more to kill you guys than it does us. Believe me, I know," she stretched slightly before continuing. "So let's see, first there's the fact that she's falling for a demon, whom we have been killing for a few years now. Then there's the whole deal with her stepfather raping her. And then, of course, there's the unknown factor, which probably doesn't concern her as much as the other two do."

"I already told you this," Kurama said somewhat impatiently.

"Calm down, I just like putting everything in order before I go to the next step. So let's start with her stepfather. I don't think there's much you can do about that one beyond offering her as much care and concern as you can. It obviously wasn't a happy time for her, and I think it'll take a miracle to make her let go of that time completely."

"I keep trying to do that, but she keeps shoving me away!"

"Ever thought of asking her what you can do that won't remind her of the past? Seems to me that that's where you keep going wrong." Kurama just nodded his agreement. "I swear, you're as bad as Hiei with answering sometimes. Anyway, let's go on to the you being a demon. I know you're good, and she knows you're good, but it just takes a little getting used to. Plus there's the fact that you've lived longer than us and will continue to live after we're gone. Especially for her. It's my guess she wants someone who's only there for her. She doesn't want to be just another notch on some guy's belt like she was for her stepfather."

"But she's not! I'm human right now. She's the only one for me in this life!"

"That's right, you're a merger. But your youko form will continue on. That's not cool." She shook her head. "But maybe if you explain that to her, it'll help. Not the merger thing, but being the only one for you in this life. And then, there's the unknown. She and I are the only ones in America who can kill demons. We're sent all over the country. But the demons are getting stronger and more vicious. We can't keep up. We may have been able to beat Dhaemhon on our own, but it would've taken us longer. Chances are next time, we won't be so lucky. She doesn't want someone who loves her to go through the pain of losing her."

Kurama looked at her sharply. "What about you?"

"Me?" She laughed. "I don't count. I'm just a friend. Besides, chances are I'll be dying with her. "

"So what should I do?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she chuckled at Kurama's surprised look. "Well, unless you can lower our chances of an early death, there's not much you can do."  
"I might just be able to do that."  
"How?" was her surprised response.  
"Let's just keep it a surprise. That way no one will be disappointed if it falls through."  
"Fine. So do you think you're good to go now?"  
"Yes. Thank you, Asilin." She nodded her acknowledgement. "On another note, what's going on with you and Hiei?"  
She stood up. "That's none of your business."  
"What? You can help me with my problem, but I can't help you with yours?"  
"It's not a problem."  
"Sure. I think that you might want to take your own advice." He got up and headed for the door.  
"Kurama, Dru's problems are not mine. My advice was for her not me."  
"If you say so." He left Asilin alone to ponder her own issues. She heaved a sigh before going to get changed for the day. Maybe if she went out and got a new dagger, she'd be able to clear her head.

* * *

Dru

Hiei watched Dru as she watched him. Neither was trusting of the other.  
"So," Dru said.  
Silence.  
"Yes."  
"What did you want?"  
Silence.  
"Is there a problem."  
"Maybe."  
"With Asilin."  
"Perhaps."  
"Ok, let me put this into a language that even you can understand." She leaned forward a bit. "Hiei like Onna. Onna like Hiei but pushes him away. Hiei can't get over himself to talk to Onna's friend about what Onna's problem may be. Nod for yes, shake head for no."  
Hiei glared. "You're…"  
"What was that?"  
"You're right," he growled.  
Dru smirked. "Thought so." She settled back into her chair and crossed her arms. "I'm not too good at advice, so I'll tell you what I told Kurama."  
"I'm aware of what you told him. The baka has been moping ever since."  
Dru blinked. She shoved aside the pain. "Yes, well…Asilin told you about the man she was seeing?"  
"Yes."  
"Well there you go. There's nothing you can do about that."  
Hiei sighed in irritation. "I'm aware of that."  
"Hiei, if you want Asilin, then you had better shut up and listen."  
Hiei's eyes narrowed. He watched Dru. "Hn."  
"Thought so."  
"So?"  
"Asilin and I are loners. We choose to be alone because of past hurts. The fact that you're being a little more harmful than charming could also be affecting her decision to throw you away. I mean, her last love was charming, smart, funny, tall and handsome—You know, everything that you're not."  
"I am NOT short!" he nearly spat.  
"My point is…even though it'll mean choking down your dignity, you may have to admit some insecurities as well. Don't let her do all the talking. And if she doesn't want you, back off. Give her space. If you keep trying, she'll come around. She's like me…she's afraid of hurting or being hurt."  
"What's your story?"  
"My story?" Dru paused a moment, contemplating. "My story…is one you will not hear. Not today."  
Hiei smirked. "Hn."  
"Asilin wants you. I know it too. Give her care. Don't just jump in and attack her."  
"That's it? That's all you have?"  
"That's all you need. Everything else you have to accomplish on your own. Now," Dru walked to the counter and turned, pointing Alucard to Hiei's head. "Get out."  
Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Fine." He stood and walked to the door. "Ningen?"  
"Yes?"  
"For someone not good at advice, you did all right."  
Dru's eyes bugged out of her head. "Good one. Use something like that on Asilin. Only…something about…fighting She paused. "And Hiei?"  
Hiei turned slightly. "What?"  
"Hurt Asilin, and Alucard will be singing you to sleep, all right?"  
"Hn." And with that, Hiei was gone.

* * *

Asilin

Asilin emerged from the alley flipping a new dagger. Only one place in town could provide her with a proper weapon, and, ironically, it was black market, and she was sure it had ties to the Makai. But she wouldn't turn in her best supplier unless ordered to.

She walked the streets aimlessly, noting how the people on the street avoided her like the plaque. Grinning she pulled out two more daggers and began juggling all three as she continued down the street. Soon, the impossible occurred; the street was cleared of people. Asilin laughed as she walked into the park. Behind her, the pedestrians of New York were coming out of hiding and continuing their every day life.

The park was silent and serene in its blanket of snow. Few people meandered its pathways this wintry day. Asilin shrugged off the lack of people. Personally, she wanted to be alone, and less people meant less chance of a fight. It was hard fighting in a heavy coat, and she wasn't particularly interested in removing it.

Soon she reached her favorite spot in the park, a small clearing next to the lake that could only be reached by moving through the thicket behind her. Dru and she often used this spot for training matches, but Asilin would come here if she needed the beauty of nature to calm her down. She stood and stared across the lake, her hand jammed into her coat pockets.

However, her peace was disturbed by the sense that someone was watching her. It was a familiar person, though. Sighing, she called, "Hiei, go away. I don't have time for this."

"Could we talk?" His voice was uncertain.

She shrugged. "I thought everything was said last night."

"Not...everything," he replied hesitantly. Frowning, Asilin turned around. Hiei was acting strangely.

"Where are you?"

"Up here." She glanced up into the tree next to her. Sure enough, Hiei was standing on the lowest branch looking down at her. He reached a hand down. "Join me."

"Whatever." But she clasped his arm and allowed him to pull her up. Once she was up, he moved to sit with his back against the tree. She sat in front of him, figuring, if nothing else, she could pull him down with her if she fell. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I didn't mean what I said last night," he began after a moment.

"Didn't mean what?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "To blow off something that was painful for you. Killing is second nature to me. I couldn't tell you who or when my first kill was. I spent my childhood raised by a thief who was of no relation to me. I was tossed from my home as a baby."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

He snorted derisively. "Because I was the forbidden child."

"You're part koorime?"

"Yes. My mother fell in love with a fire youko and bore my sister and me. I, however, took after our father in looks and was tossed from the island. My childhood was spent wandering, training, and stealing. No one cared for me, and I cared for no one. My only desire was to find my sister again. She's the only one I cared for, and I couldn't find her. That's why I got the jagan." He paused. Asilin remained silent and looked down at the branch.

Hearing no response, he continued, "Recently, I was caught afters stealing some artifacts. Kurama was in on it, so both he and I were given a choice. Jail or community service. We chose to help out Yusuke Urameshi and be part of the Reikai Tentai. While helping him, I found my sister and am protecting her, but she doesn't care for me as anything beyond a friend. I didn't tell her who I was, still haven't. It was at that time I started talking to you. You intriqued me, unlike anyone else I have ever met. You're a ningen, but have a desire to fight that matches any demon I've ever met. You surprised me, and I have to say I like the surprise. But I don't know what to do about it. Can you help me?" Hiei paused expectantly.

"Hiei, I-"

He cut her off. "I know I'm probably not what you're looking for, but I-" his voice dropped to a whisper. "I care about you."

"Hiei," Asilin murmured.

He sighed. "I'll leave you alone now, Asilin." He disappeared from behind her.

"Hiei! Wait!" she screamed after him. "Don't leave me," she whispered. She pulled her legs up to her chest and stared stonily ahead to prevent the tears from falling. 'What did you tell him, Dru?'

* * *

Dru

Dru sighed as the stars seemed to project his face. Ever since Hiei had told her that she had caused Kurama pain, she hadn't been able to get the stupid redhead out of his mind. She had been wracked with guilt at first, but after a while, she figured that it had been for the best.  
"Don't you ever go out with your friends?" came a painfully familiar voice.  
Dru looked upside down as Kurama stood over her. She sighed. "I don't have friends. I have Kheldarson." She raised an eyebrow. "What about you? Don't you have anything better to do with your time than to harass me?"  
Kurama smiled. "There's not a better way to spend my time." He paused a moment as she rolled over and placed her chin on her hands. "Can I ask you something?" he asked.  
"What?"  
"Who did those wings on your back?"  
Dru blinked and looked up. "A friend."  
"Can I know about him? Was he a lover? A friend named George, a pet monkey?" he kept on.  
Dru frowned. "A friend. Very close friend."  
Kurama sighed. "How long did you know him for?"  
"Kurama, drop it," she said, a warning tone in her voice.  
"Please?"  
"Kurama..." her voice trailed.  
Kurama watched her intently. "Aren't you tired of fighting it?"  
"Fighting what?"  
"Me."  
"Fighting you? In what way?"  
Kurama sighed. "What round is this?"  
"Pardon?"  
"Let me in, push me away--it's an always repeated cycle. It's almost like a game to you. I just want to know all about you. I want to know what hurt you've endured."  
Dru's eyes flared. "I told you to forget it," she pushed herself up and glared at him. "And I do not play with emotions. I am not a cruel person."  
Kurama watched as she turned away. Now it was his turn to get angry. "You're mean to me. We skate together. You threaten to kill me and call me names, then you accept my dinner proposal. You grudginly invite me here. We connect. We kiss, you send me away. I come back, you tell me about your past, and I hold you. I told you that I would do anything for you--" he was now practically yelling. "I told you that I would KILL for you! And then, loe and behold, I am sent away again."  
Dru's eyes narrowed. "If you don't like it, then give up. I can't make exceptions," her voice cracked. "--every time my heart beats a bit faster."  
"Is that all I am to you?"  
Dru looked down.  
"Dru, look me in the eye and tell me how you truly feel about me!"  
Dru's head snapped up. "You're annoying, eager, assuming, and overly-persistent. You won't take no for an answer and you have this horrible habit of prying and reading too much into things. But despite your annoying qualities, I'm afraid I must say I'm falling in love with you."  
Kurama blinked. "Say again?"  
"I love you."  
"You do?"  
"But I have to hate you."  
"Why?"  
"Because everyone who loves me winds up with a tombstone over their heads." She turned away. "I won't...I can't do that again."  
"Your friend--"  
She sighed in irritation. "Just...please, go."  
"No. I won't let you do this."  
"Fine."  
"What?"  
"If you won't leave," she began, sitting on the railing of the deck. "then I will." She put out her arms and fell backwards.  
Kurama ran to the ledge only to see her land on her feet. He took off out of her apartment. It took him a while to reach the bottom. He ran out onto the sidewalk, looking both ways.  
He heard the roar of an engine, and turned just in time to duck away from Dru on her motorcycle. He swore and watched as Dru rode off into the distance and soon became nothing more than a splotch on the horizon.


	7. Six

Asilin: Dru, would you say we're emotionally challenged?

Dru: What do you mean?

Asilin: Nothing really, just reading a review.

Dru: Oh. Well, I'd say you're emotionally challenged.

Asilin: >growls> Thanks for the support.

Dru: You're welcome.

* * *

Chapter Six 

>Dru and Asilin>

Dru had gone where she always went to think--Times Square. Rather ironic, considering. But she liked to sharpen her empathy, and sometimes, if she was lucky, she could find a rather large demon to kill.  
Her mind flashed with familiarity, and she turned. She stared at Kheldarson, who stood about ten feet from her. Dru saw light glinting off of something and moved away as a fast-flying dagger almost pierced her arm. It clattered on the pavement and bounced off to the side. Dru pulled her sword out and went into her battle stance.  
The people all around her began to scream and run, ducking through alleys and such until the street was almost completely empty of life. There were a few brave-or crazy-souls who dared to watch the two, waiting for the match to begin.  
Steel clanged as daggers and sword clashed. The two combatants struggled to push the other back. Bluish-grey eyes glared at granite-like ones in a battle of wills.  
Suddenly, their weapons went flying, leaving them to grapple in hand-to-hand combat. The two punched, kicked, grabbed, flipped, and rolled in their battle for vengence. To the spectators, this was worse than any cat-fight they had ever seen.  
Asilin growled out, "What the hell did you tell Hiei?!"  
"What about you and Kurama, huh?" Dru retorted.  
"I told him nothing that-"  
"Well, Hiei's just a punk and-"  
"But Hiei said he was going to leave me alone, so-"  
"Kurama just kept on pushing, which means-"  
"YOUR STUPID ADVICE DIDN'T WORK!" they both yelled at each other. They both glared at each other.  
It was at that point a lightning bolt struck the middle of Times Square and revealed a massive demon with wings. He roared, "Beware, pitiful humans! Your master has arrived!"  
Dru and Asilin turned in unison and screamed, "SHUT UP! You're interrupting our fight!" Then they blinked. The demon just stared at them in shock.  
"Insolent fools," he hissed and attacked them. The ensuing fight was short, simple, and bloody. The demon soon lay before Asilin and Dru's feet, his head severed and his body mangled.  
Dru panted, "Give me just a second, and I'll be ready to kill you next, Kheldarson."  
"Not if I'm ready first," was the tired reply. They both just looked at each other.  
"Why were we fighting again?" Asilin asked sheepishly.  
"No idea," Dru laughed back.  
Above them, somebody coughed. Both girls looked up to see Hiei and Kurama just watching them. "Oh yeah," Asilin growled. "It was about them being idiots!"  
"Shall we teach them a lesson then?" Dru's eyes had an evil glint to them.  
"Let's." Asilin moved into the nearby alleyway and tossed out Brink to Dru as she returned with all three of her daggers. They were about to climb up the fire escape when a black van drove up.  
"DRU! ASILIN! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!" The Boss screamed. "YOU TWO ARE SERIOUSLY PUSHING THE LIMIT HERE!" A squad of men jumped out of the back of the van and surrounded the two girls.  
Asilin and Dru sighed but came willingly. However, both of them glared daggers at the two boys and mouthed, "You two are so dead when we get out."

>Dru>

Dru and Asilin sat in the chairs as the boss stood circling them like a vulture. He was yelling, his face turning red from lack of oxygen. He got louder and louder every minute, and these tallied up to be quite a few minutes and quite a bit of volume.  
"SO YOU WANNA EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE THINKING?" he demanded.  
"Sir, I--" Dru began.  
"I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" he screamed in reply. He continued on another mad spree. The two remained seated and quiet, listening for there to be a pause. They were trying so hard to explain what was going on.  
"SIR!" they yelled together.  
"WHAT!?" he yelled back.  
"We want to explain this to you!" Asilin said.  
Dru's serious expression began to give way. "But, we're not sure if we can," she said. With that, she threw back her head and let out a good long laugh. Asilin watched her a moment, and then she too began laughing. "You were all Ms. I'm gonna kill you," Dru laughed hysterically.  
"And then you said--" Asilin was laughing just as hard. "You said--" She stood up and mimicked Dru as she bent over and raised a finger to indicate a minute. The two commenced to laugh until both had fallen out of their chairs and had doubled over on the floor, clutching their stomachs. They laughed so hard that tears were flooding their eyes, and when Dru fell over on her side, this only increased the volume in the room.  
The Boss watched, mouth hanging open, not sure whether to laugh with them, get angry, punish them or let them go ahead and go after the demons. So he watched until they finally calmed down.  
They straightened their throats and sat back down in their chairs, trying to don the serious expressions they had been masked with earlier.  
"So you're telling me," the Boss began calmly. "that you two started this fight over those two?"  
Asilin nodded. "Yeah," she chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye. "It wasn't completely their fault."  
Dru nodded. "Yeah. We gave them some bad advice." Asilin chortled as Dru stated this, making a loud nasal noise. At this, the two began laughing once more.  
The Boss raised an eyebrow. It was rare to see Asilin and Dru laughing, especially at the same thing at the same time.  
He sighed. "Well, I was gonna punish you two, but seeing how no one got hurt and no one really got a good look at you, and that you killed a demon we've been after--"  
The two cracked up again. "Your master is here!" the two said in unison, mocking the thing. This sent them laughing even more.  
"GIRLS!"  
The two couldn't stop though.  
"Aw, damn it, I give up. Just go home," the Boss said. "Get out, go on!" he said, chasing them out of the office.  
The two walked down the stairs, still laughing until they got out of the building. Dru looked at Asilin. "Ready to go chase the bastards?" she asked, her voice chuckling spontaneously.  
Asilin nodded, forcing down laughter. "Let's hunt some demon ass."

>The Boys>

Kurama lounged back on a park bench and looked up into the sky. It disappointed him to see so few stars visible in the night sky. Vaguely, he wondered if Dru would ever consider to go out to the country with him.  
Above him, Hiei rested on a tree branch, per usual. His eyes were closed, and a vagrant wind played with his gravity-defying hair. He wondered what had possessed him to tell Asilin his past like that. It was bound to make her hate him.  
"Hiei?" Kurama interrupted his thoughts.  
"What, kitsune?" Hiei growled.  
"Why do you think the girls were fighting today?"  
"How should I know? They're just baka ningen onnas," Hiei said with finality.  
"You don't mean that."  
"Hn."  
"I think it had something to do with us."  
"Hn."  
Kurama frowned. "That's quite infuriating, you know that?" Hiei was silent.  
Kurama sighed at his lack of response. "Well, I got a hold of Koenma today."  
Hiei smirked. "What did the toddler say?"  
"Well, he freaked out a little," Kurama grinned at the memory. "But I think I convinced him. He'll be coming here at some point to check out our story and give us a final answer."  
"Hn."  
"You do that on purpose, don't you?" Hiei gave no response. Kurama just shook his head and looked back up at the sky.  
"Look at what we found here," a voice rasped from the shadows.  
"Two very bad boys," another voice replied. Hiei and Kurama both jumped up into fighting stances, only to be hit in the back of their heads by the hilts of daggers or a sword. The last thing they heard before blacking out was one of the voices giggling as it said, "Good night, boys."

>Dru>

Kurama's eyes opened lazily. A sound of shuffling entered his ears. He went to rub his eyes to help ease his pounding head, but found his hands and arms constrained.  
"Ah," came a soft voice. "You're awake."  
Kurama blinked and tried to focus his eyes through the darkness. He finally spotted someone moving through the darkness, and with the sight of light glinting off of steel, three bullets were fired around his head. His breath caught. Dru was the one standing in the shadows with the gun.  
He swallowed. "Dru," his voice came out shaky. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What in the world is going on?" he asked.  
Dru looked at him, almost as if she were studying an animal in captivity. "Target practice," she said softly.  
Kurama's eyes popped wide open. "Dru, if you miss--"  
"I know."  
"Dru--"  
"Don't worry about it. You'll merely transcend into your next life, won't you?" She watched him for a second. "Or at least, that's what I've been lead to think." She smirked, waiting for a reaction. "You wanted to be honest, let's be honest." She approached him and waited. "You went after some very powerful and dangerous artifacts, didn't you? An orb, a sword, and...oh, what was that last item?" she asked, watching him.  
He froze.  
"A mirror, I believe it was."  
Kurama swallowed. "Yes."  
"Why?"  
"That's in the past."  
"So is my step-father. It's my turn to pry." She pointed the gun and fired a bullet right above his head. She brought back her gun. "Now. Why did you want that mirror?"  
"How did you know about it?"  
"Did you think Asilin was the only one who could gather information?"  
Kurama and Dru watched for a while. "I went after the mirror for...for my mother."  
"Your mother?" Dru asked, a chuckle in her voice.  
"Yes. She was dying."  
"And you thought this mirror could help her."  
"Yes."  
"Did it?"  
"Yes."  
"I thought it took a life as the price for a wish."  
"It did."  
"Well, you're alive and here, so I assume it didn't take your life." No answer. "Whose life did it take?" No answer. Dru raised Alucard and sent it right above his head.  
"No one's!" Kurama yelled. "A friend of mine made a selfless wish and the mirror made an exception. All right!?"  
Dru paused. "And what about this...other self?"  
"Other self?"  
"The demon part."  
"What about him?"  
"What is he?"  
Kurama scoffed. "We share a soul."  
"Good for you. So what's the difference?"  
"He's stronger."  
"Hmm." She began polishing Brink. "Very well."  
"Very well? That's it?"  
"No. I have more."  
Kurama sighed. "You're ruthless."  
"Not so much as you. But that can wait. I can even overlook that."  
"So?"  
"What did Asilin tell you?"  
"What?"  
"Her advice."  
"That's confidential. What did you tell Hiei?"  
"None of your business."  
Kurama shifted his weight. "It seems we're at an impasse."  
"Seems so."  
"Are you going to let me go?"  
"No."  
"Why?"  
"Cause now I know you're not getting into trouble, and you won't be stalking me at my home all the time."  
"Does it bother you that much?" Kurama asked.  
Dru looked up and sat down her sword. "It does because I'm trying to keep you from getting hurt."  
"Again with the pain. How about you let me decide what I can and cannot handle? Quite frankly, if I have to endure pain to be with you, then I'll take it."  
"No, you can't," Dru said quietly.  
"What?"  
"You'll die."  
"Your friend again?"  
"Maybe."  
"Who was he, Dru? And what is Dru? I know that's not your name. Everytime I look into your eyes and say that name, your eyes betray you. You're not a Dru, are you? What is your name?"  
He suddenly felt cold steel against his throat. Dru was pressed against him firmly. She was angry and he could see it and sense it in every pore. "My name now is Dru. That name portrays a life that caused me pain. That girl was weak and petty, and I can never escape her because like you, I share her soul. I'll never be able to leave my past behind when someone keeps trying to pry into it and tell me what I should and should not be saying."  
"Why do you want to leave it so badly? It hurt Dru, I know it! But that doesn't give you a reason to turn on it."  
"I am in a business of saving the world. I can't be going crazy every time a man touches me. I can't collapse on the battle field every time I see fire or hear my gun go off. I have to be strong and that means eliminating every weakness I can." She held the gun to his head. He closed his eyes. There was a soft shuffling. "But not you, Kurama. Not you," she whispered.  
Kurama opened his eyes just in time to see a door shut.  
Dru walked up the stairs and stopped. She leaned against the wall and began thinking about everything that she had just said. She sighed and tilted her head to the ceiling wondering what she would do with him in the morning. Unlike every other man in her life, Kurama had gotten under her skin. She felt as though she couldn't let any harm come to him.  
She shifted her weight and frowned. She felt as though something were wrong. The building began to rumble...

>Asilin (at the same time)>

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Hiei twitched as the noise kept on being repeated at random intervals.  
"Damn it, Hiei!" a girl's voice snarled. "Wake up!"  
"Hn." He stubbornly kept his eyes closed.  
"Fine. Then the next one goes where it'll hurt." Hiei's eyes snapped open at the threat and met Asilin's.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
She hefted a dagger. "This." She threw it at him. He didn't even flinch as it landed next to his ear. "Only I wasn't aiming for the spot."  
"Baka onna!" He growled and leapt at her. Well, attempted to leap at her. He was chained up at the moment. "Let me go."  
"Uh-huh, Hiei. I've decided that it's time for you and I to have a little talk, and I kinda don't want you attacking me." She pulled a chair up and straddled it.  
"Hn."  
"Let me put it another way. You don't talk, I stop being so generous and start hitting body parts." She glared at him.  
He met her gaze to force her to back down, but after several minutes, it was obvious that she wasn't going to. "Fine, onna," he growled.  
"Good." Her face split into a smile. "First question. Did you mean it?"  
"Mean what?"  
"What you said right before leaving me at the park."  
He blushed. "Hn." A dagger landed between his legs. He stared at Asilin in shock.  
"You didn't answer. I have no real limit to the number of daggers I have here, so this can go easy or hard. However, the longer we go, the worse the daggers get, which means my aim may be off a little. So I suggest you play nice."  
"I meant it," Hiei muttered.  
"See? That wasn't so hard. Now, why'd you leave me?"  
"To give you time to think."  
"I'm sure," she replied in a sarcastic tone. "Why'd you leave?"  
"I-" He couldn't finish.  
Asilin's eyes softened slightly. "You still can't admit it, can you?"  
"Admit what?" he glared at her.  
"You're as scared as I am right now."  
"I'm not scared!"  
"Yes, you are. But know what? So am I. So we're even. All you have to do is admit it. Maybe then we can discuss letting you go." He stared at her. "It's not that hard, Hiei." Her voice was soft.  
All Hiei could do was sigh. "You're right. I'm a little scared." His eyes dared her to challenge his statement.  
She smiled at him. "I knew you could do it." She stood up and touched his cheek. "By the way, what did Dru tell you? That I wouldn't like you because of who I dated first?" He just looked at her.  
Shaking her head, she laughed as she undid the chains. However, as soon as she finished, she found herself on the floor, Hiei on top of her. "Did you honestly think you could get away with all of that without some payback?" He smirked. Asilin's eyes widened. "Now, who's afraid?" His hand snaked behind her head as he began to kiss her. He started gentle, but as time went by, deepened the kiss.  
Asilin moaned as his tongue entered her mouth. However, she decided that it was her turn to have some fun. She reached up with her tongue and licked Hiei's. He stopped and looked at her quizzically. That was all the break she needed. She reached up and kissed Hiei herself, entering his mouth much as he had done hers. She felt him smirk beneath her lips, but he didn't stop her.  
She ran her tongue over his teeth, along the top of his mouth, across his tongue. She was amazed at how this felt and knew that she couldn't go back to the way she was. Especially after Hiei started groaning in his throat. She pulled away.  
"What?" she giggled. He just mock-glared at her before pulling her back into another kiss, rougher than the first. However, it was cut short as the two of them looked up in surprise. The building had begun to rumble...

>Dru>

Dru reached the rooftop door and flung it open. The building was beginning to shatter as a force came closer and closer. She knew that feeling. She had felt it before. She watched in awe and fear as a blue orb of light came crashing into the rooftop, making a long ravine in the rooftop. She stood her ground, preparing to jump should it reach her.  
The thing slowed, the massiveness becoming slowly larger until it stopped right in front of her. She looked in and could see through the blue crystal lightning that there was someone inside. It was a man. He had long black hair touched with gray, a scar cut across his face. His eyes blazed with red fire, and the ball around him soon disintegrated and turned into nothing.  
Dru tried not to let her fear get the best of her. She pulled out her sword and began walking forward. With a great amount of anger and strength and speed, she brought it over her head towards the demon's. He lifted his arm and deflected the blow with a crackle of lightning. Dru fell back and continued staring at the offensive being.  
"What are you doing here?" she hissed through clenched teeth.  
The man grinned. "Now now child. That's no way to welcome your father."  
Dru's eyes narrowed. "Father? I never had a father. If your referring to the man who merely gave me half of my genetic material, then I would have to agree. But the name for that would be paternal genetic unit."  
The man grinned. "Always the sarcastic little thing, weren't you?"  
"I see you got your wish."  
"That I did."  
"Leave."  
"I just got here!" he said. He watched her and pouted falsely. "What's the matter? Not happy to see me?" he asked.  
"Quite the contrary. This eliminates the whole me having to search for you and then kill you. Now I can just kill you!" she said. She raised Alucard and let a shot ring into the demon's head. The man fell over and lay still. "That was too easy," she said quietly, turning.  
"That rather hurt," came a voice. Dru froze and turned. He was not sitting up. He felt around on his forehead and brought a bloody glove to his face. "Hmm. Gotten quite handy with that thing."  
"Care to see another practice shot?"  
"I daresay I would," he said, standing.  
Dru backed away a bit. She glared. "I told you to die. You just wouldn't listen. Now we have to do this the hard way."  
The man smiled. "Do we?"  
"What?"  
"I came here with a proposal."  
"For?"  
He smiled. "There's a war beginning, you know." Dru didn't answer. "Demons and humans are preparing to fight one another. Only...the humans don't know." He took a step forward. "I want to ask that you return home with me. I want you to be my general, my right hand in this war."  
Dru's eyes narrowed again. "I think I'll stay on the side of good, thanks."  
The man laughed. "Ah, I knew you would say that. Always the firey spirit." He closed in on her carefully. "There's good and evil in everyone, Victoria." Dru flinched at her real name. "But beyond that, there's even more need--the need to feel loved, the need for power--whatever it is, it is there. I am feeling a lot of need from you right now. So many different things..."  
"All I need is my sword and my gun--" she pointed the gun again. "And I'm good to go."  
The man threw back his head and laughed. "Ah, my darling daughter, firey and free-spirited as usual. Well then--" He grabbed her wrist and brought her close to him. "I can't force you. You're the only one with the strength to kill me." He kissed her forehead and threw her back. He watched her regain her balance and regard him dangerously. "Now now, none of that."  
"Get, out of here!" she nearly screamed.  
"Just leaving," he replied quietly, walking to the edge. Dru kept her gun pointed and watched him literally walk off of the rooftop. She blinked, then fell back once more as a blue orb flew into sight and took off like a rocket into the sky. It flew high and far until it became nothing more than a dot in the sky.  
She swallowed and fell to her knees, suddenly weakened. She sighed and felt her forehead. Damn. He had made her sick.  
She stood shakily and went through the door. Up the stairs came running Asilin and Hiei, Kurama just behind. "Dru!" Asilin asked, noticing Dru's flushed cheeks. "What was that?"  
Dru cleared her throat. "Nothing. Really."

With that, she began to descend the steps. She suddenly went dizzy, and tipped forward. Kurama pushed past Asilin and Hiei and grabbed the girl.  
"Hey!" came a loud voice.  
Asilin looked down the long flights of stairs to see the boss staring up at the from the third story of the building. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled.  
"Dru was attacked!" Asilin called.  
"Attacked? By what?"  
"I don't know, but I felt it. It was powerful."  
"Did she kill it?"  
Asilin turned to Dru who shook her head. Asilin then looked back down. "No!"  
The Boss sighed. "Bring her down here!"  
"No..." Dru said. The three turned to her. "I just need to go home and rest. I'm sure I've just caught something," she said softly. "I just need rest, I'm sure of it."  
Asilin looked at Kurama and sighed. "All right. We'll take her home," she called the last part to the Boss.  
The man could be heard grumbling. "Fine. But tell her that if she dies, I'll kill her!" and with that, there was the slamming of the door and silence.  
Asilin looked at Kurama. "Ok. Let's get her home."  
"I can go by myself!" Dru swatted at them, standing on her own. She took a couple shaky steps and fell over again into Hiei. "Ok," Dru said. "Maybe I need to sleep first," she said quietly.  
Hiei seemed alarmed at first, not sure what to do. Kurama came and took her into his arms and began carrying her carefully down the stairs. The three remained quiet as they took Dru home.

>Asilin>

Asilin unlocked the door to Dru's apartment and allowed Kurama in first. As she entered in, Hiei followed her at protective distance. "You don't need to do that," Asilin whispered.

"I may not need to, but I want to," he replied and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back into his embrace and looked worriedly towards Dru's bedroom. She didn't understand why she was allowing Hiei to see this emotion, but found she didn't want it any other way.

Kurama exited the room, closing the door behind him. "I take it you two fixed your problem." Hiei and Asilin shrugged in unison. "Ah. Anyway, Asilin, has she ever gotten this sick before? And this suddenly?"

Asilin frowned, attempting slightly to get out of Hiei's grasp. It failed. "No, as long as I've known her, she's never gotten sick. Not even a cold. But I've only known her for a couple of years now, so..." she trailed off.

"So it's possible that this could've happened before?" Kurama pressed.

"I suppose. But the only way to find out is to ask her, and I don't think she'll tell us."

"I'm sure the three of us could convince her."

"Hn. Leave me out of it, kitsune."

Asilin grinned at Hiei's response. "Hiei's actually right, Kurama. We'll leave this one alone." She pulled away from Hiei at this point and walked over to the window. "There was something strange about the feeling I got from whatever was at the agency. It was familiar, yet very strange. It's worrying."

Hiei chuckled low in his throat. "And, of course, there's the fact that it's something you have no info on."

"Yeah...HEY!" Asilin turned around to glare at him, only to find him behind her again. Kurama laughed at their antics.

'I never knew Hiei would allow his walls down for a girl, especially a human girl. Maybe there's something to the belief that there's a single person for everybody,' Kurama mused as he watched the two. Then his thoughts turned to the woman he loved. 'What happened to her? Kami, I hope she's willing to tell us when she wakes up.' He sat down on a chair and stared at Dru's door.

Meanwhile, Asilin and Hiei had made their way to the deck. Asilin leaned against the railing and looked out on the street with a sigh; Hiei stood against the building and watched her. They stood in silence for a moment, listening to the song of the city. "I don't know why humans desire to be in places like this," Hiei muttered. "It's loud, crowded, and ugly."

Asilin smirked. "Well, some people are afraid of being alone and being required to take responsibility for themselves. What they don't realize is that by being here is making them more alone and responsible than anywhere else. But it can be fun here." She grinned at him.

"Hn."

"You've got to stop doing that." She looked away from him.

"Why?" he whispered in her ear. Asilin shivered as his warm breath tickled her.

"Because it's very annoying, you baka." She looked up and glared at him. He smirked and captured her lips with his, turning her in his arms. It was a short one, and Asilin rested her head on Hiei's chest when they ended it. He wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you thinking about, onna?"

"Quit calling me that!" she snapped, then sighed as he just smirked. "I was just wondering about Dru. She's my partner, and I have no clue what happened to her. I don't want anything to have happened to her." She laid her head back down on his chest.

"Hn. She's as strong as you are. Don't worry so much."

"You're so good when it comes to comforting someone," Asilin said sarcastically.

"What did you expect?" He laughed.

She growled. "Fine. Then I guess I'll have to find something else to comfort me." She extricated herself from Hiei's arms and stalked over to the sliding door.

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. Asilin struggled to break his grip, but he refused to back down. So the two just stared at each other, neither one blinking, neither giving up. Then the door opened, and Kurama poked his head out. "Guys, you need to come in here. We have a visitor."

Asilin broke away from Hiei's gaze to glance at Kurama. "A visitor? But nobody knows where we're at except the Boss, and he wouldn't send Sam here now."

"It's not Sam, whoever he is. Or your boss. It's ours."

She just stared at Kurama. "Your boss?"

"Yeah." Kurama looked at Hiei. "He wants both of us in there now."

"Hn." Hiei reluctantly let go of Asilin and disappeared, literally, into the house. Kurama and Asilin followed.

"So where's this boss of yours?" Asilin asked, looking around the room.

"Right here," a strange voice said behind her. Asilin turned to see a toddler floating in front of her. "Yo," the toddler said. She took a step back and drew a dagger. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you! I am Koenma, prince of the Reikai."

"Whatever." She thrust her dagger back into its sheath and flopped onto the couch.

"What do you want, toddler?" Hiei demanded from the window.

"Well, we've recieved news that a new demon has risen in power and is attempting to start a war between humans and demons. However, we have no clue who this demon could be or what his powers are."

"And you want us to go look for him?" Kurama asked.

"Yes."

"Forget it," Hiei said bluntly. "Get the detective to do it."

"He's looking for the demon in Japan. I want you to see if he's here," Koenma stated. "Plus, it'll give me a chance to see how the demon hunters work here." He glanced at Asilin. She just stared back. "Well, I'm off!" He disappeared.

Asilin looked at the two boys. "Your boss is a toddler?" They nodded. "And he's in charge of the Reikai?" Another nod. "So you two follow a guy who sucks on a blue pacifier, floats, and probably still wears diapers? This is too rare!" She burst out laughing.

* * *

Asilin: Well...this is probably one of our longer chapters. 

Dru: So we'd like to ask for more reviews. Maybe 30 before our next chapter. Reviews make us happy.

Asilin: Yes they do. So review okay?


	8. Seven

Asilin: Well, we didn't quite make it...but as a New Year's gift to everyone, here's the next chapter.

Dru: And you had better review this time!

Asilin: Or we'll hunt you down.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Dru**

The new fallen snow crunched softly under her feet. The basement door was open, and despite the fact that she knew the motorcycle would wake everyone else up, she had to go. She had to leave until she could rid herself of this demon in her body. It had invaded her body and was trying to plunge her into darkness--the same kind of darkness that Andru had been consumed by.  
She sighed and looked at the black fiber glass and the chrome as it sparkled in the dim moonlight. With one last thought of hesitation, she put up the kickstand and stradled the seat. She stuck the key in the ignition, and was off.  
Kurama's eyes opened lazily as the sun pierced his eyes. He blinked. He sighed sleepily and stood. With a stretch, he peered out the window. The snow had been falling all night, and it was now continuing in a softer kind of flurry. He had to wake Dru and let her see. He hoped dearly that last night was a fluke and that this would help strengthen her. He knew that this was the kind of weather that she thrived in.  
He turned softly and glanced at the two sleeping on the couch. Asilin slept soundly in Hiei's arms, and for once, the two looked slightly peaceful. Kurama smiled and entered Dru's room, only to find her bed empty. He crossed and looked into the bathroom, and then again into the bedroom. He looked around and froze.  
The balcony door was open. He jogged and looked out, noticing that there were footsteps in the snow. He looked out over the railing and saw single tire tracks in the snow.  
The sun had come up. Dru had had to take the backroads, as she didn't want to be caught by the Boss or anyone associated with him. It had been a long trip, but she had finally reached the outskirts of New York. She only had two miles until she reached Jersey, and then from there she could catch a plane to England where an expert shaman priest had made an appointment for her.  
Her face felt like it was turning into ice. If she could just supress it a few more hours--  
Her body froze. She jerked, and then blacked out. The bike went skidding across the road and crashed into an alley.  
A bystander who had watched the accident happen ran to the alley and watched in pure amazement and surprise as Dru came walking out of the accident, seemingly unscathed. She wobbled a bit, but seemed all right.  
"Miss, are you all right?" the man asked.  
Dru paused and turned slowly to the man. With a jerk, the man fell over, off of Dru's sword. She raised it to her eyes and grinned. She put it to her mouth and the blood from her sword. She watched the blood pouring into the snow.  
"I am now," she said quietly.  
The Boss slammed down the phone and looked at the three. "And where the hell were you when she took off?" he yelled.  
"Asleep," Asilin said, glaring right back.  
"Good, great. No one established a watch over her? Of course she's going to slip out. She's kind of good at that you know!"  
"Well, excuse us for being exhausted!" Hiei said.  
Asilin sighed. "Where would she have gone?"  
"For a drive," came a voice.  
They all turned and watched as Dru came through the door. "Of course, I wrecked my ride. That really sucked."  
Asilin's eyes narrowed a bit. She had never heard Dru say 'sucked' or 'my ride'. Her eyes lingered and she tried to contain herself as she noticed that Dru held her sword, covered in blood.  
"Dru," she said. "Were you attacked?"  
Dru raised her sword and looked at it. "Sure did." She smirked. "Some poor sap happened to be walking by, and he attacked me with attention. So I did him in."  
Everyone jumped at this. "What?" the Boss yelled.  
Dru began laughing. "You're all fools. I find it amusing that anyone like her finds it in her heart to care for such idiots." She threw back her head and laughed unnaturally.  
"Dru--" Kruama began.  
Dru's head snapped to him. "Ah, yes." She raised an eyebrow. "You. You seem to be the little lover."  
Kurama didn't know what to do or say to that.  
"She's quite fond of you, you know. Too bad that I have to kill you." She turned and walked out.  
Asilin jumped forward to grab Dru, but the door slammed shut and Asilins hand smacked against the wood.  
"Damn!"  
Dru stepped out into the waiting room and stood on the secretary's desk. She raised her arms above her head. "Can I have your attention please!" Business in the room stopped and everyone watched.

"You have all been selected to be part of a great and glorious piece of history."  
Everyone simply stared.  
"You shall all be the first casualties in the Great War!" And with this, the building began to rumble. Panic arose, and Dru floated off of the desk a bit. (OO)  
Pieces of the ceiling came crashing down around her, and people began scrambling for the doors.  
Dru rose through a new hole in the ceiling and kept rising and rising until she was completely out of sight. She rose into the sky and then settled outside on the ground. People were beginning to wander and watch and scream. People were pulling out cell phones.  
Dru turned and merely walked out of the crowd.

**Asilin**

Asilin gasped as she heard what Dru said. "Shit! We've got to get out of here NOW!" she yelled.

"What's going on with Dru?" Kurama asked worriedly.

"Don't know, but she said something about a war." At that moment, the ceiling began to fall.

The Boss began shoving boxes from a back corner. When he found what he was looking for, he called, "In here." A door was open in the floor.

Asilin nodded and jumped in, no question. Kurama and Hiei frowned, but followed. The Boss was last, closing the door behind them.

"Where are we?" Kuarma murmured in the dark.

"An old passageway," the Boss's voice was unusually hushed. "It'll take us to the surface."

"Were the others in place?" Asilin queried.

"Most were. Hopefully they were able to get everyone out. But we'll find out later."

The four were quiet as they traversed through the dark. When they found the light of day, the Boss was immediately rushed.

"Four passages lost-"

"All of Research is missing-"

"What was she doing-"

"What's to be done-"

"ENOUGH!" roared the Boss. "All section heads here, come with me for reporting. You three," he turned his gaze to Hiei, Kurama, and Asilin. "Find out what's going on with Dru, and do everything you can to stop her, even if it means her death."

"Yes sir," Asilin replied in a subdued tone.

Kurama looked at her incredulously. "But-"

"Not now, Kurama," she snapped. She stalked off.

"What's Asilin thinking?!" Kurama ranted to Hiei. "Dru's her best friend!"

"Hn." Hiei grunted. "I suggest you ask her, not me." He disappeared from Kurama's side.

Kurama narrowed his eyes angrily. "Believe me, I will." He walked off in the direction Asilin had gone.

Meanwhile, Asilin had gone further into the park. Because of the recent activity, the park was empty of most human life. She ripped a pair of daggers out of their sheaths as she went along. She threw one at the nearest tree. It embedded itself deeply into the trunk. With a snarled oath, she ripped it out, taking a huge chunk out of the tree. She continued this process until she reached a large secluded tree where she and Dru had often met before telling each other were they lived. Asilin stared at the oak from a moment. Then she attacked it.

"Damn!" She cut into the tree. "Damn!" She used the other dagger. "Damn!" Back to the first. "Damn! Damn! Damn!" She alternated hands each time she yelled. "Why. Did. You. Do. It. Dru! Why?!!" she screamed before sinking down in exhaustion, her back to the tree and her daggers stabbed into the ground. She pulled her knees up and placed her head on them.

Suddenly, she felt herself being picked up and settled on someone's lap. She struggled to get out of the person's grip. "Hush," Hiei whispered in her ear.

"Let go of me!" she hissed, trying with all her might to break free.

"No."

"Hiei, I suggest you let go," she threatened.

He chuckled. "You're in no position to threaten me," he informed her. She immediately reached for a dagger and came up empty. Same with every other spot. "I'm a thief, remember?"

"Where are they?" she demanded.

"Safe. It's just you and me, onna. No weapons." He pulled her closer. "Now, do you want to tell me why you attacked the tree?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Onna, don't push me."

"I'm not. It's none of your business!" she snapped.

"We can do this one of two ways," he flipped her around to look at him. "Easy or hard."

"You wouldn't," Asilin scoffed.

"I would," he responded in a deadly voice. She just stared at him, refusing to respond. His eyes hardened. "Fine." He undid his bandanna.

Asilin tried desperately to keep Hiei out of her mind. However, he bore down on her and broke through. She screamed as he dug through her thoughts and memories.

When he finished, she pulled away from him violently and backed away. He stood up and approached her, some regret showing in his eyes.

"Don't come near me," Asilin spat. "I don't want you near me ever again!"

He just looked at her. "She didn't betray you. I don't think Dru's herself right now, and neither do you. She hasn't betrayed you." He stopped. "Although I may have," he added in a whisper. Asilin just stared at him stonily.

It was at that moment Kurama decided to show up. "Asilin, I want an explanation! Now."

She fixed her gaze on him. "An explanation for what?"

"Why you're willing to kill Dru!"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because she's on a killing spree! Unless we can stop her another way, we have to take her down permanently. I will not allow my friendship with her obstruct my judgment. One life is better than thousands!"

Kurama flinched at her words. "I thought only demons could be that callous."

"Well, you're wrong. Dru and I both subscribe to the theory that emotions are never to be consulted in these kinds of decisions." She turned and stalked off.

"Where are you going now?" Kurama called.

"Dru's" was her curt reply. Kurama and Hiei followed in silence.

Once there, she immediately began to search the place. Both boys tried to get her to tell them what she was searching for, but Asilin just ignored them both. So they just watched her, Hiei perched on the window sill, and Kurama leaning against a wall.

At last, Asilin found what she was looking for. It was a small leather book that had been stuffed into some obscure corner. She sat down on the couch, flipped the book open to a page, and began to read.

Suddenly, Koenma appeared. "Yo!"

"Hello, Koenma," Kurama said.

"Any news?"

"Not really. What about Yusuke?"

"Well, rumor is that the demon came to the states to find someone but wasn't totally successful in his goal."

"He is now," Asilin stated, standing up.

"What do you mean?" Koenma asked.

"The demon is Dru's father. He was human until he got his wish granted at a past Dark Tournament. Now it seem he wants to rule the world but wants his daughter by his side. Dru believes he's possessed her."

"How do you know this?!" Kurama demanded.

She held the book up. "This is her diary. She left me the whole story, along with how we can begin to help her. However, she also says that we're to kill her if we can't exorcise the demon. She refuses to work for her father."

Koenma snapped his fingers. "I'll get Yusuke and Kuwabara so they can help out. You three start working on the instructions." He disappeared.

Asilin, Kurama, and Hiei began preparing the room as Dru had described. As they did so, Asilin made sure to keep as much space as possible between her and Hiei.

**Dru**

The darkness receded, dropping her ever so harshly into a world of white light. Upon first opening her eyes, she cursed and threw her hand over them to protect them from the piercing light. She lay there in the cold wet snow, trying to recall what had happened. She remembered quickly her quest and what had happened. She swallowed and forced herself to sit up. She rubbed her throbbing temples and looked around.  
She sprang up, not aware of where she was. Nothing was familiar—this was NOT the alley where she had crashed. She turned to her left and saw her sword sitting on the ground, slowly turning the white ice into red. Her eyes widened. "What…?"  
"Happened?" came a devious voice. She spun, but there was no one there, only an icy voice echoing all around her in the tiny surrounding of trees.  
Dru carefully picked her bloodstained sword off of the ground and felt around for Alucard. She sighed when she pulled the silver gun out of her hidden pocket and saw that no shots had been fired.  
"Just the sword," came the slippery voice. "Just you and I, and your two beloved weapons."  
"Who are you?" Dru asked, trying to remain calm.  
"Hm. Curious? I'm you."  
Dru scoffed. "Hardly."  
The voice laughed. "Perhaps you're right. And next I suppose you'll be telling me that the blood on your lovely sword doesn't belong to some innocent or another?"  
Dru's eyes narrowed. "I've had about enough. You'll either come out now or—"  
"What?"  
Dru raised the gun to her head. "I'll kill myself."  
"Well, the original plan was to drive you insane, but now—"  
Dru felt her inner self struggling.  
"Now, I suppose I'll have to change the rules if you won't play fair."  
Dru's arms dropped as an agonizing fire ripped through her stomach, trying to sink her spirit into oblivion. She fell to her knees and hugged herself, the pain exploding. She gritted her teeth and let out a yell. She fell on her side and breathed in harshly, her body convulsing. She was thrown over.  
"You couldn't just cooperate, could you?"  
"You know me. Never been a Daddy's Girl," she breathed viciously.  
The Voice laughed. "I know, I know. But there's always room for change."  
Dru screamed as she fell out of consciousness, the black that had recently faded now appearing and obscuring her vision, throwing her into sleep.

She was silent before she sat slowly and stood at the same speed, chuckling deep in her throat. "Ah, silly girl you are. But no worries. Your father hired me for a reason. I don't lose."

The city leaked with the stench of humans. Even in the body of a mortal, he could smell it through the human's fragile nose. He used her body to examine humans and feel them. He rather liked this one. It was agile enough, strong enough, and no one would suspect. She appeared to be dark, but not so ominously dark—no one would ever expect a human female to bring down the great Demon Head Quarters of the CIA—especially not one who had worked there for years.  
The only ones who knew were dead.

The demon laughed. He began searching the human's well-protected mind and found out where she dwelled. With a salacious grin, the demon turned the body towards the apartment building and decided after demolishing that building and leaving the body in the rubble, he would watch and wait and let Dru try to talk her way out of that one.  
It took a while and a lot of restraint until he entered Dru's apartment. He sighed and looked around. "Too bad," he mused. "She's quite the dark artist. Her father would love these works of art—they're so painful…I can almost feel it. Ah, no worry. When she is by his side, she will produce as many dark arts as she pleases."  
"So, are you going to talk—"  
The demon turned to face a black-haired boy.  
"Or are you going to fight?"  
The demon scanned the boy and smiled. "Ah, the Detective. I knew you were after me. I could smell your pathetic stench a mile away."  
"So why weren't you prepared?"  
The demon threw back her head and laughed. "Ah, stupid boy." The demon brought out Dru's sword. "You can't have this body—it's mine. And I'm quite fond of it."  
"It doesn't belong to you."  
"It does now. Or, at least until I get it to her father."  
Yusuke smirked. "I believe he gave up his parental rights when he left her family," came another voice. The demon turned to see Asilin.  
"Oh, an ambush, how frightening!" the demon said in merriment. "What are you going to do? Kill me? Oh, you can't. You can only kill your little friend." The demon reached into Dru's coat and pulled out the sword, still covered with blood. "I really need to get this clean, but that will have to wait until I've heard that fresh blood comes off easier."  
"All right then," Yusuke said. "What are we waiting for?"  
Thus the fight began. The demon against Yusuke and Asilin. They didn't want to use weapons against Dru, but seeing as how she had her sword and would most likely use her gun, they had no choice. (Since I'm no good at fight scenes, how about I let you guys imagine it?) But the demon didn't know that they were slowly parrying her into a large, lightly drawn circle in the middle of the room. Yusuke, with what ounce of energy he had left, knocked the sword into the air and grabbed at it, falling back. The demon was stunned for a moment, but only grinned. It reached into Dru's pocket and pulled out the gun. "Sorry boy. This has been fun, but I really must kill you now."  
Asilin's eyes widened. "HEY!" she screamed, charging at Dru. Even the demon couldn't react in time, and found himself lying on the floor, Asilin straddling him. Asilin ripped the gun from the demon's hand and slid it across the floor. "No one.uses.Dru's.Gun.But.DRU!" she roared, punching the demon over and over.  
"Asilin!" Hiei pulled the girl away and up, and they, Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara all appeared and formed around the circle. Dru's body began convulsing.  
"DO IT!" Dru's voice came through as she clutched her stomach.  
The five began to chant slowly softly, staring at the form in the circle. They slowly became louder as the floor began to shake a bit, the circle began to glow a bit, brighter and brighter every second that they spoke. The pentagram was steeped with light, and Dru's body was clear in the center. She fell to her side and began writhing, screaming.  
Kurama's heart beat faster and his voice began to crack and fail. A soft hand fell on his shoulder and he looked over at Hiei who watched him with the caring expression he rarely, if ever, showed. Kurama, picking back up, turned back to the circle and continued chanting, his voice renewed.  
Soon there was an enormous wind emitting from the circle, carrying on it a large source of magical power. It swirled around the five of them, threatening to tear through them and send them to the corners of the room, but they all held fast until finally, the wind calmed and faded, and the light sunk into the floor except for a dim glow of the out circle. It was completely silent save for Dru's ragged breathing.  
Kurama closed his eyes so he wouldn't see her tearing soul.  
"All right," came a familiar voice. "Who decided to do this in MY apartment?" Dru asked, looking directly at Asilin. Her face softened into a weak smile as she stared around. "Now EVERYONE knows where I live," she said with a small chuckle.  
Asilin laughed. "Shut up Dru."  
"After you, Kheldarson."  
"Dru," Kurama whispered.  
Dru's eyes opened, and her soft blue-grey eyes landed on the redhead. She smiled. "Good to see you again, Kurama. I thought for sure you'd be gone by now."  
Kurama smiled. "Me? Never."

Dru now sat in the circle in her pants and shirt. Everything else had been taken off and put away to prevent anything dangerous from happening. She sat cross-legged, looking around her apartment a while and then sighed. "And to think," she said. "He was going to destroy all of this."  
Asilin paused, watching Dru. "Do you know what else he did through you?"  
Dru's eyes darkened. She looked down and nodded. "I do. I thought it was a very real nightmare. I tend to have those sometimes, you know? I could barely…I mean…I could see it, but I couldn't. That sounds very weird, but…"  
"I understand," Asilin said.  
"Kheldarson?"  
"Yes?"  
"Is everyone all right?"  
"From what we could tell, most of the members made it out all right."  
"But…not all?"  
"No."  
Dru sighed and raked a hand through her hair. "The Boss?"  
"Is alive."  
"Is he angry with me?"  
"I…I don't know Dru."  
Dru shivered and pulled her knees to her chest. She gasped. "Get ready," she breathed heavily.  
Asilin's eyes widened. "Is he coming through?"  
"Yeah." With that, Dru fell back and lay there a moment. Her body twitched a bit. Asilin watched in worry as red eyes opened and glanced about until her eyes rested on Asilin. A cruel smiled played on Dru's lips as she rose. The demon had taken her again. Asilin didn't know for how long…

Asilin covered her ears. The demon had been keening a horrible Underworld song for the past half an hour, and there was nothing Asilin could do about it. She sighed as the banging continued as well. Kuwabara, in all his stupidity had decided that he should hit on the possessed Dru, thus earning him a few free rides between the floor and ceiling. Again, there was nothing she could do. The demon was powerful, and until Hiei came back, no one would be able to suppress the powers floating through the room.  
"Come on, Mortal! Sing with me!" the demon laughed as he once again flung Kuwabara against the floor. "Oh, that must have hurt. Let's get that elevated!" BAM! "But then again—" CRASH! "Oh dear, you've broken my couch."  
The singing eventually stopped, but the banging and crashing continued. Asilin sighed and walked back out into the den. "Dru, stop it!"  
"Oh, come now, Kheldarson! If I have borrowed powers, I may as well use them to right wrongs."  
Asilin smiled. "Dru—"  
"All right!" Dru said. She held Kuwabara against the ceiling a moment and then let him fall to the floor.  
Kuwabara rubbed his head. "What the hell is wrong with you, you crazy—"  
"Watch it," Asilin began.  
"You know, Kuwabara, if this were a movie or even a story, I think you'd be the most hated character in it," Dru mused.  
(Meanwhile, the authors shift and clear their throats)

**Asilin**

Asilin walked into the den just in time to see Hiei leave. Their eyes met briefly, but both looked away immediately. The door shut with a slam. Asilin winced slightly.

"Want to tell me what's going on with you two?" Dru asked. "Last time I saw you guys, you were getting along quite well."

Asilin flopped into the chair that was positioned to face Dru. It was still warm from Hiei's turn to keep watch. "It's nothing important."

Dru snorted. "Yeah, right. I've been watching you two. You avoid each other like the plague, yet you both glance at each other when the other isn't looking. It's not your best work, Kheldarson."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Asilin growled.

"Of course. That explains why Hiei spends half the night attempting to sharpen his katana but keeps on stopping."

Asilin blinked. That was a surprise. "It's his sword. I've got nothing to do with how he cares for it." She stopped. "But why should you care, Dru? You've got enough issues with Kurama without worrying about nonexistent problems from me."

Dru chuckled. "Actually, he and I have been doing quite a bit of talking. We've come to an understanding. So," she continued, looking right at her friend, "that leaves the difficulties between you and Hiei."

"You don't need to sound so smug about it," Asilin groused. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Kheldarson, just tell me!" Asilin shook her head. "I can't help you kill him if I don't know what he's done."

Asilin chuckled darkly. "Actually, I was thinking of doing it myself."

"And make all my threats worthless? You must be joking."

"And that's supposed to change my mind?"

"Kheldarson!" Dru glared at her.

Asilin sighed. "Fine. It was after your attack, and we had entered the park. I was mad, so I left to vent. Hiei found me and asked me what I was doing. I didn't tell him, so he-" she faltered.

"He what?"

"He used his Jagan on me," Asilin finished in a whisper, her head bowed.

"He what?!" Dru shouted.

"He used his Jagan."

"What did he find?" Dru asked with a frown. "Did he find why you were mad?"

"Yeah, it was what he was looking for."

"Why were you mad?"

"I thought you had betrayed us." Dru stared at her in shock. "What else was I supposed to think?! You destroyed the building! Nearly killed all of us! True, some things didn't add up right, but there was still that possibility!"

"I can see you point," Dru said. "What did he do after finding this?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might."

Asilin stood up. "He said you hadn't betrayed us; that I knew you weren't yourself." She walked to the window. Dru moved in the circle to maintain eye contact with her. "I think he also tried to apologize, but didn't quite make it."

Dru laughed. "You two are going to kill each other someday. And you won't even mean to." She became serious. "Kheldarson, I think now's the time for a leap of faith, like I mentioned the other day. Your logic tells you not to trust him, but," she smiled slightly, "it's obvious that the rest of you wants to trust him, despite what he's done."

Asilin glared at her friend. "I do not!" Her hand rested lightly on a dagger.

"Sure. You go talk to him and see if you can maintain that belief." Dru shook her head when Asilin turned around to look out the window. 'Well, I've done what I can,' she thought. She then sank into oblivion.

Some time later, Asilin was about ready to kill Dru, just to shut the demon inside of her up. He had been singing several renditions of an underworld song, each one worser than the last. And there was nothing Asilin could do about it.

She was yelling at the demon-possessed Dru, over the horrendous singing, of course, when Kurama walked in. Kurama just observed the activity with one eyebrow raised. Finally, Asilin turned to him in relief. "Thank Kami!" she said as she grabbed her coat, ignoring the singing, which if anything had gotten louder and more raucous than before. "I don't think I can handle anymore!"

Kurama chuckled. "Well, go on then. Dru and I will be fine here." Asilin waved jauntily at the two before heading outside.

It was a warmer day than usual with more people walking on the streets. Asilin allowed herself to be jostled about as she meandered the streets. She didn't really care at the moment. Truth be told, she didn't care where she was going either. She didn't want to go home, but she didn't want to be back at Dru's. So wandering the streets was the next best thing.

Eventually, her feet led her to the place she always ended up at--the all-familiar park. She walked up and down the well trodden paths for a time, attempting to ignore all the cheerful people, before moving on to the lesser known pathways, or, at points abandoning the paths altogether to forge through the brush herself.

In a very secluded spot, deep within the park, was where she found Hiei. He was practicing with his katana. Asilin watched with wonder as he moved through his strokes

In a very secluded spot, deep within the park, was where she found Hiei. He was practicing with his katana. Asilin watched with wonder as he moved through his strokes, his katana flashing and his muscles rippling. After a time, though, she shook her head slightly to break her trance and moved to go.

"Onna," Hiei called.

She stopped, but kept her back turned. "What do you want?"

"Actually, I was going to ask yo the same thing. You could have left as soon as you got here. Why didn't you?"

Blinking, Asilin turned to face him. "I--I don't know."

"Yes, you do," he stated, walking over to her and sheathing his katana.

"What is with everyone today?!" she shouted. Everyone I've talked to so far today keeps on assuming that I do or do not know certain things. Quit it! Only I know what I do or do not know, and that's the way it's supposed to stay!"

He flinched at the not-so-subtle jab. "Asilin, I--" he reached out slightly for her, but allowed his hand to drop.

"You what? You didn't mean it? It was necessary? What?!" she snarled. "You violated my mind and my trust!"

"I'm sorry," he growled lowly.

"What?" she responded in shock.

"I'm not repeating it, onna," he said. "But I only went into your mind because you needed to hear someone else tell you that Dru didn't betray you. You weren't going anywhere with it in your mind."

"And that's supposed to excuse it?!"

"Hn."

"You arrogant bastard! Nobody gave you permission to do that, so just because I was dealing with issues, does not mean you get to search through my mind!"

He slammed her up against a tree. "I was just trying to help! I don't search through people's minds randomly; it's only if there's a purpose!" he hissed.

Asilin just glared at him. He stared back at her. The minutes passed as impassive crimson clashed with fiery grey. Then, Hiei smirked and swiftly kissed her.

She stiffened in shock. How could he dare to do this after everything he'd done...after everything she'd said? He maintained the kiss, hoping for a response, but she gave none, and, so, he pulled away. He ran a hand quickly through his black hair.

"Fine. I'm through." He began to walk away. "I won't bother you again," he shot over his shoulder before continuing on his way.

Asilin watched him go, part of her elated at her win. Yet, another part of her longed to go after him. A battle raged inside of her between her heart and mind. As it progressed, she turned to go.

However, before she took the first step, she looked back at Hiei, who was almost out of the clearing. She bit her lip. Now was the time the decision had to be made. If she left and let him go, she'd never see him again after all of this was over. He'd make sure of that. But the alternative meant going against her logic.

She shook her head. What was she thinking? She always went with her logic. Why change now? She started to walk away herself. Yet, every step she took, her heart seemed to break even more. 'Stupid emotions,' she growled mentally. 'When I get home, I'll pound them out of me. But--' She looked back again. He was about to leave the clearing, having just picked up his cloak. For some reason, seeing him place his cloak around his shoulders nearly made her cry. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was obvious what she had to do.

Asilin took off across the clearing towards Hiei. "Hiei!" she yelled. "Wait!" He paused at the edge of the clearing.

"Why, onna?" he replied coldly. "Why should I? You don't want me here."

She ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. He stiffened slightly as she then buried her head into his chest. "That's not true!" she cried. "I'm so sorry, Hiei."

Hiei was surprised by what happened next. Asilin began to sob quietly. He wrapped his arms around her reflexively. "Hey," he whispered. "It's okay. We both did and said things we didn't mean to at the time." He lifted her head up and smiled gently at her, noting that she was just as beautiful as ever with the unshed tears in her eyes.

Asilin shivered as Hiei gently brushed away the last of her tears. When he finished, she rested her head against his hand and looked up at him. He took this motion as an invitation and kissed her deeply. She responded immediately, kissing him back with as much passion as he was exuding.

After several minutes passed, they both pulled away and looked at each other. Hiei smirked before picking her up bridal style. Her eyes widened in shock.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Hn." He looked down at her. "I just thought you'd rather continue this back at your apartment." He chuckled wickedly as she blushed. He took off, pressing her close to him.

As they went, Asilin asked, "How come Dru and I have never gotten to see where you guys are staying in the city? Besides our places, I mean."

"We didn't get a place. We were going to stay outside. The weather here isn't as harsh as in the Makai." He set her down at the door of her apartment.  
She narrowed her eyes. "You've been holding back!"  
"So?" He shrugged. "It's not much of a fight if your opponent can't see you."  
She laughed. "Well, that's true." Asilin then unlocked the door and strode into her place. Hiei followed and made sure to shut and lock the door. Then he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "So," he whispered huskily in her ear, "shall we continue?"  
She just shivered in delight. He moved her in his arms and kissed her again, tilting her head back slightly. Asilin lifted her arms to be around his neck and ran her fingers lightly over the back of his neck. He growled ferally before deepening the kiss. She arched slightly in his arms. Hiei broke off the kiss, causing her to whimper slightly, and looked in her eyes, which were still half-lowered in pleasure.  
"So you liked that, huh?" She nodded weakly. He smirked and began to kiss at her exposed neck. The hand that had been at her lower back was moved to her side, where Hiei began stroking her slightly, his thumb brushing the side of her breast when it passed.  
Asilin pulled back slightly at this point and gazed at Hiei. She searched his eyes in confusion. Lust and desire were there, but both were covered by love. He pulled her back into his arms. "Hiei, I'm not sure..." she started.  
"We won't do anything you don't want to," he promised in a whisper. "I won't hurt you." He began to kiss her again.  
"Wait," she murmured. He looked at her quizzically but let her go. She began to discard her daggers one by one and lay them on the table. At her last one she hesitate, but ultimately put it with the others. Hiei, too, discarded his katana and placed it on a chair, covering it with his cloak. Asilin flicked the lights off, making the only light source the moonlight streaming through the windows.  
"There. That's better," she said, moving back into Hiei's arms.  
"Hn." He kissed her again, effectively ending all conversation for the evening.


End file.
